Love's Been Blinded
by Hugs-Inuyasha
Summary: COMPLETE AU When Inyuasha, the coolest guy in school, is chosen to act as a guide to the blind new girl, Kagome, he hates her. But what will he do when that hatred starts to turn into affection? InuKag, MirSan
1. Prologue

**Author's Note: Hey, guys! This is my first ever Inuyasha fic so please excuse any mistakes, and please correct anything you feel like correcting in reviews or whatnot. :P This is pretty much an experimental fic, so unless I get reviews I probably won't continue it for very long. I have plans for it up to around chapter 4 or 5, but that's it. Suggestions for things to happen, or whatever, please tell in a review! I like reviews.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha, nor any of the characters. The plot, however, is my own creation.**

PROLOGUE

Meet Inuyasha, seventeen-year-old hanyou, the unchallenged leader of the boys of Cameron Drake High School. Throughout the school he is accepted as the coolest, the godliest, and definitely the _hottest_ amongst all of the students. The girls fawn over him, the boys try to be him, and the teachers turn a blind eye to his obvious dislike of school. In the building full of humans, his half-demon blood makes him something foreign, something different; something amazing. It was no surprise that they all loved him.

Inuyasha, however, has a counterpart in the female half of the school; one girl who is accepted as the smartest, the most beautiful, and the most influential of all: the girl who had been holding the title of "girlfriend" to Inuyasha since his rise to undisputed popularity, and scared off any other who tried to make a claim to him. Indeed, Kikyou and Inuyasha ruled the school, choosing who was cool and who was not. They controlled the gossip, the fashions, and pretty much every social aspect of school life.

* * *

The home of Kagome Higurashi was a simple thing; the sixteen-year-old girl lived with her mother, brother and grandfather in a two-story house. She had her own bedroom, and it had white walls, a white bed and bedspread, a white door and carpet, and a closet that was filled with various clothes. The unfortunate thing was that she could not see any of these details; Kagome Higurashi had been blind for five years now. The doctors had promised her that her sight would come back soon after the accident that had left her blinded; but after five years of waiting for some light to pierce the total darkness that was her world, she had given up hope of that ever happening. 

But that didn't mean that she had given up hope on everything else. In fact, she was a happy girl; she would soon be starting at a new high school, Cameron Drake High School, and the principal of that school was going to be coming over to her house for dinner that very day to talk to her about the school. Kagome's mother hadn't wanted her to go; she had said that it would be better for Kagome to be home-taught, kept away from the children that could make fun of her and take advantage of her because of her utter blindness to the world. But Kagome had never changed her mind about wanting going to school, and eventually her mother had been persuaded to allow her daughter to take this chance.

It was almost dinnertime now, and Kagome was sitting on a wonderfully comfortable couch, running her fingers over a book with Braille letters that she had learned to read a few years ago. After five years of sightlessness her hearing had improved greatly, and she heard the footsteps approaching the front door long before their owner had rang the doorbell.

"I'll get it," Kagome's mother shouted throughout the house, after the familiar _"Ding, dong,"_ had rung through the building. Kagome looked up out of reflex and heard her mother walk past her, and smiled as she felt the blast of warm summer air on her face when her mother opened the door, welcoming in the principal of Cameron Drake.

"Come in, come in, just leave your shoes there by the door," Kagome's mother was saying, hurrying about to get her new guest settled in. "Ms. Kaede, I presume?"

"Yes, my dear; just call me Kaede," was the response. Kagome's ears pricked at the voice of Kaede; it was old, but still strong, and as warm as if she herself had been the one welcoming Kagome and her mother. Kagome immediately felt safe in this woman's presence.

"Kagome, come shake Ms. - I mean, Kaede's hand," her mother said, and Kagome stood and walked over to where she had heard the voices, holding out her palm. She smiled when she felt the wrinkled skin of an older woman's hand come into contact with her own, and shook the offered palm warmly.

"Hello, Principal Kaede," she said, smiling. She could feel Kaede looking at her, scrutinizing her face.

"Come, Kaede, sit down, I'll bring some tea." Kagome's mother continued to bustle about and Kaede let go of Kagome's hand. Kagome walked the familiar pathway up to the kitchen, trailing her hand along the wall so that she wasn't completely separated from the world around her. Kaede followed her up to the table, sitting down across from Kagome and looking at her over the wooden surface.

"Kagome, why do you wish to attend Cameron Drake High School?" Kaede asked, while Kagome's mother began to boil some water.

Kagome smiled at the question. "Well, it would seem obvious; I want to learn new things, meet new people; we are, after all, new to this city."

Her mother paused in her tea-making. "We just moved in a month ago," she explained to Kaede, who nodded in understanding.

"You are not afraid of being...discriminated against because of your obvious disadvantage?" Kaede asked. "I cannot deny that teenagers may find it difficult to accept you, as difficult as it is for me to speak ill of my own school."

Kagome grinned. "I believe that I will make at least one or two good friends, and they will help me around the school. I can take care of myself," she added, for good measure. Kaede nodded.

"I also have a plan for you to have a...guide of sorts, to introduce you to the school, show you around," she said. "I believe that we can trust him, though he may at first seem a bit opposed to the idea."

"What do you mean by that, Kaede?" Kagome's mother asked, walking over to the table with two full teacups in her hands. "Surely you do not mean to give my girl an escort who is unwilling to play the part."

"You must understand, Ms. Higurashi, that I have all of my students best interests' at heart," Kaede explained, her voice calm and understanding. She smiled her thanks for the tea and sipped it quietly. "I wish Kagome's escort to learn something from this experience, as well. Trust me, I will not allow any harm to come to your daughter."

"Please, mother, I'll be fine," Kagome said, smiling at her mom. Ms. Higurashi sighed, shaking her head.

"I suppose that I don't have much of a choice," she said, sitting down at the table and wrapping her hands around her teacup in a defeated sort of way. "We need to send Kagome to school, and we can't afford to send her to a private school."

A young boy came bouncing into the room. "Kagome, Kagome, is this the new principal?" the boy asked, his voice loud and obviously excited. "Ms. Kaede?"

Kaede laughed pleasantly, extending a hand to the young boy. He bounded over to her and shook it vigorously. "Ms. Kaede, maybe I'll go to your school someday too!" he said, smiling up at the older lady, who laughed again.

"Someday, you will, Mr..." She trailed off, not knowing the boy's name.

"Souta," the boy explained. "But you don't need to call me Mister."

"Souta, then," Kaede agreed, and Souta bounded off to sit next to his sister.

"Kagome, Kagome, what's going on?" he asked. Kagome laughed and patted her little brother on the head.

"The nice lady was just explaining to me how there's going to be someone leading me around school," she said. She smiled at Kaede. "So, when do I start?"


	2. Chapter 1: The blind leading the blind

**CHAPTER 1** : _the blind leading the blind_

Inuyasha was sitting in his first-period class, wondering why he had been seated next to an empty desk. Everyone else in the class had a partner sitting next to them, and it made him wonder why he had been chosen to sit alone. Was it something he had done?

His ears perked up as he heard the voice of his principal, Keade, blare over the P.A. system.

"Would Inuyasha please come to the office? Inuyasha."

His classmates all turned to look at him, and he shrugged; he knew as much about the summons as the rest of them did. He swung his legs out from under his desk and, with a nod to his teacher, left the room. He walked down the dull hallway, following the well-trodden path to the school office, hesitating only a moment when he came to the large oak door. Pushing it open, he found that he was the only one in the room, aside from a female secretary with large glasses and long, straight brown hair. She waved at the door to Kaede's room, indicating that he should go there; he answered with a smile, pushed open the door, and walked in.

The first thing he saw was Kaede herself, sitting on the far side of a dark wooden desk, smiling warmly at him and beckoning him to sit down in the free chair. There were two chairs in front of the principal's desk; the one that Inuyasha was now sitting in, and the one that held the girl he was now staring at.

She was very pretty; she had long, raven-black hair that was swept neatly behind her ears, and large brown eyes with a slight twinkle in them that Inuyasha couldn't recognize. That alone puzzled him; he was good at knowing what people were feeling from looking at their eyes. She was wearing plain clothes, and looked in his general direction without ever meeting his eyes. Her constant yet inaccurate gaze was starting to unnerve him. What was she looking at?

"Good morning, Inuyasha," Kaede said warmly. "Are you enjoying your first day of school?"

"Well, not much has happened to make it enjoyable," Inuyasha replied, with a hint of sarcasm. "Who's this?"

"This is Kagome," Kaede said, motioning towards the girl. "She's new to Cameron Drake High School."

"I can tell," Inuyasha said, laughing a bit. He crossed his arms over his chest and stared at the girl, doing the typical "cool" act that always got girls blushing a bit. Kagome, however, was unfazed: she simply turned her gaze from him back to Kaede.

"Kagome, Inuyasha is the one I've selected to be your guide around the school." Kaede looked pointedly at Inuyasha. "Inuyasha, that means that you're going to be showing her around, since she's new and doesn't know her way about our hallowed halls."

Inuyasha snorted. "So long as she looks where she's going, she should be able to figure it out," he said. He scratched at the dog-ears that protruded from his silvery-white hair. "Well, Kagome, what do you think?"

"Of what?" she responded, a hint of confusedness in her voice. Inuyasha scowled.

"Usually people are a bit creeped out the first time they see me," the dog-boy said. "I mean, can't you see I'm a hanyou?"

Kagome laughed. Her laughter was as pretty as she was. "No, actually."

"What do you mean, 'no, actually'?" Inuyasha asked. "You blind or something?"

"Yes," was the girl's simple response. "Why else would I need an escort?"

Inuyasha was silent as he pondered this new development. Him, chosen to lead a blind girl around the school? Was this some kind of joke? He had better things that he wanted to do with his time! He wanted to be with his friends; imagine the damage to his reputation if he was seen leading some girl everywhere!

"Oh, no," Inuyasha said, waving his hands in the air. "I can't do this."

"Why not?" Kaede asked. "I believe that you could learn something from this experience, Inuyasha."

"What, how to lead people away from walls?" he asked. "What could possibly be the benefit of having to take a blind girl with me everywhere I go? I don't want to do this!" he said, his voice getting consistently louder. "What the hell were you thinking, choosing me?"

"I'm thinking that Kagome can't be left to take care of herself, on account of her sightlessness," Kaede said, scowling a bit as Inuyasha began to wave his hand in front of Kagome's face, to no effect. "And I'm also thinking that, since you and her have chosen the exact same classes, it would be a perfect match. You wouldn't have to take her anywhere you yourself weren't going."

"What about the bathroom?" Inuyasha asked, his voice still angry. "You can't possibly expect me to lead her around the ladies' room."

"I can take care of myself," Kagome said, annoyed. "I'm not some baby."

"Then why do you need an escort in the first place?" Inuyasha asked. "Come on, Kaede! I have a life!"

Kaede sighed and shook her head. "Inuyasha, there's no way that you can talk me out of this. I truly believe that it would be the best for both of you."

Inuyasha slammed his hands down on the desk, raising himself up to glare pointedly down at Kaede. "What if I don't agree with you?" he practically shouted, right in her face. She glared right back at him.

"Then you obviously have difficulty realizing that I am the principal of this school, and you can't argue with me," was Kaede's cold response. Kagome was sitting quietly in her chair, trying not to look as hurt as she was. It wasn't her fault she was blind, and as she heard the argument that centered around her, she couldn't help but feel that it was her fault.

"Really, Kaede; it's okay, if he doesn't want to be my escort he -" Kagome began, trying to make Kaede realize that there was more than one person who could help her around school. But Kaede interrupted her.

"Kagome, your arguing will be just as pointless as Inuyasha's," she said, her voice still kind and gentle when she addressed the blind girl. "It may seem as if I made a bad choice in the beginning, but I promise that it'll all work out fine in the end."

Inuyasha snorted. "We'll see how long you can keep up that attitude," he said, rising from his chair and preparing to exit the room. "So I guess that the reason nobody's sitting next to me yet in any of my classes is because she's going to be following me around?"

"I'm so glad you're beginning to understand," Kaede said, with an enthusiastic smile. "Now, you two should probably be going; you're already late for your first class."

Kagome, though she couldn't see it, knew that Inuyasha would be glaring at her. She fought to hold back tears at the boy's obvious rejection of her. It wasn't her fault!

She flinched as Inuyasha roughly grabbed her hand and began to pull her out of the office. Not having any other choice, she followed him out into the hallway, the sound of Kaede's secretary rustling papers disappearing as she was led further away from the office.

She winced a bit as Inuyasha tightened his grip on her hand, his fingernails more like claws than anything else. "Inuyasha, wait, slow down," she tried to say, her attempts at pulling him back failing miserably. Eventually, she got fed up.

"Stop right this second," she said, managing to pull her hand completely away from Inuyasha's. She heard his hurried footsteps stop.

Inuyasha glared at her, wondering what her problem was. Couldn't she understand that he didn't want to have to pull her around everywhere? He just wanted to go to class. But now she was acting as if she could tell him what to do.

"Inuyasha, -please- listen to me," she said, her voice pleading. He growled at her and she flinched.

"Okay. Now, I don't know you and you don't know me, but I'm sorry about this - really," she said, when Inuyasha snorted in disbelief. "I don't know why Kaede chose you to guide me around, and if I had had my own choice, I wouldn't have a guide at all. So please, -please- stop acting as if this is all my fault! I don't want it any more than you do."

Inuyasha snorted again. "Yeah, right. Damn, what's Kikyou going to think?" he wondered aloud.

"Kikyou?" Kagome asked, curious. "She your girlfriend or something?"

"Yeah," Inuyasha mumbled.

"Well, I don't want to be stuck with you any longer than I have to," Kagome said. "After school's done, I'll be gone quickly. I just need to know where everything is and then I should be fine. So just...chill, okay?" she said, sounding frustrated. "This is only temporary. I just need to know where everything in the school is, and then you can do your own thing."

"Whatever," Inuyasha said, obviously not believing it. "But don't go around thinking I'm going to be showing you around the school. You're just with me when absolutely necessary, okay?"

Kagome was silent, looking at the floor. Inuyasha didn't see it, but there were tears in her eyes.

* * *

The morning's classes passed uneventfully. In each one, the teacher introduced Kagome to the class and explained her predicament of sorts. Instead of taking notes with a normal pen or pencil, Kagome was using some sort of special tool that left raised marks on the paper. When she needed to go over something, she would run her finger over it; it fascinated Inuyasha, that she could read by feeling the letters. He didn't recognize the alphabet, though; it must be some blind person thing. 

When lunchtime came, Inuyasha pulled Kagome back to her locker. "Eat anywhere you want," he said, his voice bored. "I'll come back to your locker five minutes before the end of lunch so we can get to the next class."

"Wait," Kagome said, but Inuyasha didn't care for whatever she was going to say; she could already hear his heavy footsteps disappearing into the crowd. She fought back tears. He had just left her there! Amongst a crowd of people that she didn't know at all!

She fumbled with her lock, finally getting it open after three tries, felt around for her lunchbag, pulled it out, locked the locker door, and slumped down in front of it. Her lunch fell into her lap. She could hear the sounds of people walking past her, not noticing the girl that was sitting with a sad expression on her face, with a small bag in her lap.

How could Kaede have set her up with such a horrid guide? Inuyasha obviously didn't care at all about anybody other than himself. From what Kagome had gathered, he was the most popular guy in the school. He probably thought that he had lots of friends; but Kagome suspected that even his so-called girlfriend, Kikyou, only cared about his status.

She thought for a bit about the irony of the situation; in a way, the boy who had been chosen to guide her around was blind himself; he was blind to the fact that nobody really cared about him as a person. Kagome had already noticed that - while being dragged around by the half-demon - nobody called him by his name, Inuyasha.

"Hey, hanyou!"

"Yo, what's up, Mr. Cool?"

"Hey, dawg! No, seriously!"

It was obvious, at least to Kagome, the situation that Inuyasha was in. But why did she care? Inuyasha hated her, and quite frankly, the feeling was mutual. He could have at least tried harder. As Kagome's temper began to flare, hot tears began to fall down her face. Why did he have to be such a jerk! Couldn't he see that she didn't want to be stuck with him either? It wasn't -her- fault, none of this was! If only Kaede had chosen someone different, someone that actually cared about other people! Then she wouldn't be sitting in front of her locker like this, all on her own, crying.

Feeling utterly miserable, she opened her lunchbag and found the sandwich that her mother had made for her, and began to eat.

* * *

Inuyasha had abandoned Kagome without a second thought; so long as she didn't move, she wouldn't get lost or anything. He quickly went back to his own locker, grabbed his lunch, and made his way to the crowded cafeteria. 

He knew that everybody was looking at him the moment he entered the room; immediately whispers shot across the cafeteria like wildfire, people no doubt spreading the rumour that he had been chosen to lead a blind girl around the school. He sat down at the table that was occupied by the group of boys that were his gang, and hence his friends; plus Kikyou and her posse. Kikyou smiled widely at him, giving him a quick kiss on the cheek and wrapping her arm around him as he sat down next to her. Inuyasha smiled back at her, and then at everyone else seated around him.

"Is it true?" one of his friends, Arik, asked. "About the girl?"

Inuyasha snorted. "Yeah. That idiot Kaede set me up with some blind girl."

"What's her name?" Kikyou asked, mockingly sweet.

"Kagome," Inuyasha almost spat. "She's so pathetic."

"One would imagine, if she's blind," a second friend of Inuyasha's said. "Sucks that you have to lead her around like that."

"Where is she now?" Kikyou asked.

"Sitting in front of her locker, eating her lunch," Inuyasha said, the hint of disgust still in his voice, as if the subject of Kagome made him want to throw up.

"Eating in front of her locker?" Arik asked incredulously. "So pathetic!"

"I know," Inuyasha said, and his gang and Kikyou's laughed cruelly at Kagome's expense. But while all of them save Kikyou and Inuyasha wondered inwardly at how Inuyasha could be so mean to the girl, none of them dared speak up; one wouldn't want to get on the bad side of the coolest guy and girl at Cameron Drake High School.

* * *

Kagome had almost finished her lunch when she heard footsteps echo through the now abandoned hallway. They stopped for a bit, and then accelerated in her direction. She felt a gust of wind on her face as someone sat down hurriedly next to her, and then felt a warm hand grab her arm. 

"Kagome, right?" a kind, female voice said; it sounded like someone that could be around Kagome's age. "You're the blind girl that's in pretty much all my classes except second period!"

Kagome looked towards the source of the cheery voice, her face brightening at the prospect of a friend. "Yeah, that's me," she said. "Please, sit down, if you're willing to eat lunch sitting in front of the lockers with the blind girl," Kagome said, mocking herself.

The girl laughed. "Don't worry, I know how you're feeling," said the voice. "My name's Sango. It's my first year here as well, and trust me, I'm not fitting in any better than you are."

"Really?" Kagome asked. "But you're not...you don't have any weird disadvantages or whatever?"

Sango laughed again. "You don't have to be blind to have difficulty finding friends at a new school," she said, "though I'm sure it would make it a lot more difficult. No, I'm just a violence-loving girl."

"Violence-loving, eh?" Kagome asked, smiling. "Well, I'm sure that two misfits like us would have no problem getting along."

Kagome heard Sango making herself more comfortable on the cold ground. "Friends, then?"

Kagome beamed. "Friends."

**Author's Note: Well, that's it for chapter one. Tell me what you think! I like reviews, and if you want a second chapter you're going to have to tell me that you want a second chapter. Like I said before, this fic is entirely experimental, so tell me if you want me to continue!**


	3. Chapter 2: The goodness of friends

**Author's Note: Wow! I got a lot more reviews than I expected to! Thank you so much guys! And a note: Usually I use asterixes around actions, but unfortunately they don't show up, so if you just see a random word like 'dances' or 'cries' or 'gives everyone hugs', then remember that there are supposed to be asterixes around it, and it's an action. :D**

**And now...responding to reviews:D**

**Suckatwriting:** Aw, come on, I'm sure that you don't really suck at writing. :P But thanks for the awesome review! Your enthusiasm is astounding. :P

**Att3nt10n D3f1c1t M3GG0: **I'm not even going to try to figure out what your name means. :P But yay for the McDonald's theme song! I'm glad you like my fic! Thanks for the coolios review!

**Elenion-Ancalima: **Wow! I'm so happy that you like my story . After this chapter you can already see the opportunities for Inuyasha to start falling for Kagome, and Miroku gets brought into the play! I'm not sure how I'm going to bring Shippo in, but I do want to. Thanks for the great review!

**PurityFlower1989:** lol! Thanks so much for the review!

**HelikaAkileh: **I'm so glad that you like my story :D Thanks a bunch for the review! .

**Nekomata-17: **I'm glad that Kagome found a friend too. :D Thanks for the review!

**Akihanah: **Wow, you were practically crying? I was so sad too...I get really attached to characters I use in stories... cries Anyways, thanks for the awesome review!

**Okay...I think that's everyone...wow:D Thanks so much guys! gives everyone a hug**

**Now...on with the chapter!**

**CHAPTER 2: **_The goodness of friends_

Sango sat next to the blind girl, smiling at Kagome's obvious happiness at the prospect of having a new friend. She herself was delighted at the idea; she hadn't fit in very well with the rest of the girls at Cameron Drake High School, what with her set-in-stone belief that Kikyou was an idiot. So she sat with Kagome in front of her locker, giving death-glares to all the people that passed them and shook their heads, as if in disgust.

When a tall boy with black hair tied back in a small ponytail walked up to them, Sango prepared the glare that she had grown so accustomed to delivering. "Kagome, a boy just walked up to us, and he looks really stupid," Sango said, explaining the situation to the blind girl who, in a very short timespan, had become her best friend. "He's wearing a ridiculous shirt."

"Oh, your words are like a knife thrust through my heart," the boy said, dramatically staggering backwards, feigning a violent death. "And you don't even know my name!"

"Fine," Sango said, rolling her eyes. "What's your name?"

"Miroku," the boy answered, a large smile plastered on his face. "And you, my dear; your name could only be Artemis, for your beauty seems to know no bounds."

"I'll be right back, Kagome," Sango said, standing up and approaching Miroku. He smiled as Sango approached, expecting a kiss or some other reward for his compliment.

So when his cheek was stinging with the oh-so-familiar feeling of an open palm being slapped across his face, he was very shocked. "But my dear lady, whatever did I do to anger you?" he asked, holding his hand across his face where she had slapped him. "I just paid you a compliment."

"Miroku, the school pervert," Sango explained aloud. "I might not have been here for very long, but trust me, I've already heard your reputation."

"A lovely woman with such strength as you possess could only be Sango," Miroku said. "I've already heard about your thing with fighting."

"Oh?" Sango asked. "Then why are you still standing here?" She cracked her knuckles threateningly. Miroku ignored her.

"And this must be the much-whispered-about Kagome," Miroku said, stepping past Sango and crouching in front of the other girl. "I must say, I feel pity for you."

"Why, because I'm blind?" Kagome said, a touch of anger in her own voice. "Don't give me pity just because I can't see how stupid you undoubtedly look."

Sango snickered, sitting back down beside Kagome. Miroku took the opportunity to sit down in front of Kagome.

"No, not at all; in fact, I think that it might be rather nice not to have to see the vulgar graffiti inscribed all over these lovely walls," Miroku said. "Nah, I feel bad for you because you're stuck with Inuyasha to lead you around. That must be awful."

Sango blinked. Maybe this boy had more to him than the perverted rumours that she had heard. Kagome said, "Yeah, it's not very good."

"I'd love to exchange places with the half-demon, but unfortunately I do not share many of your classes," Miroku said.

"Sure, you'd just _love_ the chance to lead a blind girl around the school, groping at her whenever you'd like," Sango said, getting angry again. Miroku raised his hands in the air, playing innocent.

"I wouldn't think of taking advantage of her like that," he said. "But you, on the other hand, lovely Sango..." He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.

Kagome laughed. "Come on, Sango, he's just being an idiot," she said, when she felt Sango tense up next to her. "If he thinks Inuyasha's as stupid as he is, then he can't just be another one of the incredibly ignorant males."

Sango paused, thinking this over. "Yeah, I guess you're right," she said, almost reluctantly.

"Oooh!" Miroku said. "Does this mean that I will receive the ultimate privilege of being one of your surely numerous friends?"

"Numerous?" Kagome said, laughing. "Yeah, right."

"Well..." Sango said, doubtfully; but Kagome gave her a bit of a shove.

"If he joins our lovely group of friends, then we'll still just be a triangle; but it's better than a line," Kagome said. Sango shook her head.

"Yeah, whatever," she said reluctantly. "You can hang out with us. But no groping!" she added. Miroku shrugged.

"These hands, they have minds of their own," he said innocently, waving his hands in the air as if to demonstrate his point. "Now, do tell me what kind of morning you two lovely ladies have been having!"

Kagome laughed a bit, but soon sank into more depressed spirits as Sango recounted both of their tales of rejection; about how she had been pretty much avoided by everyone, and how badly Inuyasha had treated Kagome. All through the story, Miroku sat and listened, his expression becoming more and more aghast, to the point where it looked comical. Sango described these shifts of expressions to Kagome as she was telling the story.

When Sango had finished, Miroku sighed. "It's so sad that two ladies as lovely as yourselves should have had such a malignant morning," he said. "But, since the three of us have already been cast away from popularity with no hope of return, why not give Inuyasha a piece of the lovely Kagome's mind?"

"What do you mean by that?" Sango asked, looking suspiciously at Miroku. Kagome cleared her throat.

"I think he means to say that we should shout and scream at Inuyasha about what an idiot he is, because we obviously don't have anything to lose," Kagome said.

"But we have everything to gain!" Miroku said enthusiastically. "I know from experience that shouting at Inuyasha is fun. Unfortunately, most of the fun is watching his facial expressions change, but I'm sure that the beautiful Sango can tell you exactly what's going on."

"How much time do we have left in lunch?" Kagome asked. "Even if I had a watch, I wouldn't be able to read it."

"We still have half an hour," Miroku said. "More than enough time to give Inuyasha a good shouting at."

Smirking, he stood up and offered a hand to Sango, who took it and hoisted herself up before bending over to help Kagome. Miroku took the opportunity to make a grab at Sango's butt. As soon as Sango had finished helping Kagome stand, she whirled around to face Miroku and slapped him very hard on the face, again.

"Pervert!" she said. "I don't know why I'm letting you hang out with us."

Miroku rubbed his cheek. "Think of it this way," he offered. "After spending some time with you, I'm sure that my face will be stronger. Now, the cafeteria is this way," he said, and began to lead Sango and Kagome downstairs.

* * *

The cafeteria was a lot less full than it had been; at Inuyasha's table, there only sat the dog-demon himself, Kikyou beside him, Arik, and Kikyou's friend Rhia. Maybe fifteen other people sat around the room, scattered in handfuls amongst the various tables. When Miroku, Sango, and Kagome entered the room, most of them looked up in surprise and then went back to their conversations. Inuyasha's table, however, didn't resume their chatter. When the threesome approached them, the whole cafeteria fell silent. 

The group stopped upon reaching the edge of the table. Inuyasha glared at them. "What do you want?" he practically snarled at the three friends. Kikyou joined her boyfriend in scowling at the three of them.

Miroku cleared his throat. "Dearest Inuyasha, it has come to our attention that you have not been...shall I say, particularly kind to our lovely friend Kagome."

"Friend?" Inuyasha sneered. "That blind idiot actually got herself some friends?" Sango felt Kagome tense at her side, and wrapped her arm around the girl's shoulder encouragingly.

"If anybody's unworthy of friends, it's you, you arrogant ass," Sango said to Inuyasha, her voice growing louder. All heads in the cafeteria turned to watch what would surely become an interesting argument. "It's not her fault that you were picked to guide her around! She doesn't want to be with you any more than you want to be with her! And you just drag her around and dump her in any old place like some random piece of trash!"

Loud whispers were beginning to spread among the sparse amount of people that were seated in the cafeteria, and some students that had been idly wandering the hallways poked their heads into the room to see what was going on. Inuyasha noticed all of this, and it made him angrier.

"His face is beginning to look like a clown's," Sango whispered to Kagome, who giggled.

"I don't need to take care of some stupid girl!" Inuyasha said, his voice rising to match the volume of Sango's. "Apparently she's got friends now who can deal with her! I don't want to have anything to do with her!"

"We would love to replace you, but we're not in all of her classes!" Sango replied, her voice louder than Inuyasha's, now. "In the meantime, Principal Kaede chose -you- to be her escort, and you're obviously not doing your job!"

"Well, it's not my fault if Kaede is too stupid to see that I won't be bothered with some blind girl!" Inuyasha shouted. "It's her fault, not mine!"

"It's entirely your fault!" Miroku said, joining the argument. "Just because she's blind, doesn't mean you can go around treating her like garbage! She's a person too!"

"Oh, what lovely friends you've gotten yourself, Kagome," Inuyasha sneered. "Miss Fighter and Mr. Pervert. I do admire your choice of personalities."

"You jerk!" Kagome cried. "You're so stuck up, at least these people are true friends! These idiots that hang around you just want to be popular! At least my friends won't whisper behind my back just to get to a certain status!"

"How dare you insult me!" Inuyasha said. Kagome grinned a little bit; if Inyuasha had had any true friends, he would have said, 'how dare you insult my friends'. It was obvious to her - and also to Sango and Miroku, for they were grinning as well - that Inuyasha was very alone.

"What are you all grinning for?" Inuyasha shouted, his face going a bit red. "Now, seeing as she's obviously so well taken-care-of, I don't need to drag her around anymore!" He sat back down on the cafeteria bench. "Good riddance," he added.

"If you don't continue to act as her escort, we'll tell Kaede that you're shirking your duties," Miroku said. "We're already told you, we can't go with Kagome to all her classes; they're not the same as ours."

"But I-" Inuyasha began, but was interrupted by a furious Sango.

"Listen, jerk," she said. "We don't know why Kaede chose you. But she did. We have to make the best of this! Now, either you do your job and do it -well-, or we'll inform Kaede of what you've been up to."

"Oh, I'm so afraid of tattle-tales," Inuyasha said sarcastically, but Kikyou wrapped her arm through his and whispered something in his ear. His face blanched and he looked up at Kagome again.

"Fine. I'll take you to your classes. But I'm not taking you home or whatever," he said, angrily. "So long as you know I hate you, you idiot girl, then we should be fine."

"And I hate you, too," Kagome replied, her voice sickeningly sweet. Sango chuckled to herself, and then led Kagome out of the cafeteria, and away from the now-fuming Inuyasha. Miroku followed.

* * *

Sango and Miroku went with Kagome to the first class she had after lunch, but after that it was once again up to Inyuasha to guide her around the school. He grabbed her hand tightly (-too- tightly, she was already getting ugly-looking bruises) and virtually dragged her around. They never spoke to each other, not once; through all the classes that they sat together in they never looked at each other, nor acknowledged each other's presence. In fact, only at the end of the day did Inuyasha even glance at her. 

The first thing he looked at was her hand, feeling a little guilty when he saw the ugly bruises that were forming. Throughout the day, the angry words that had been spoken at lunch had been tumbling around his mind. After the three of them had left - Kagome, Sango, and Miroku - he had turned to Kikyou, Arik and Rhia and asked them, "You guys are my good friends, right?"

They had all hesitated a fraction of a second before enthusiastically replying, "Yes, of course!" And that fraction of a second was an infinite amount of time too long. Inuyasha had also begun to realize that most people didn't address him by his name; it was almost as if they didn't think of him as a person, but as an object of status, something that they all needed to be on good terms with. As much as he hated to admit it, he was starting to be slightly jealous of the way that Kagome's exceptionally new friends had stood up for her, shouting at him - the most popular guy at the school - losing all hope of popularity for themselves, and all because one girl had been unhappy.

But by the end of the day, he was still angry with her, so he let go of her hand when he had brought her to her locker. "You can take care of yourself from here," he said, turning to leave.

"Wait!" Kagome had said, and he had stopped for a second. It was then that he had noticed her hand; he had picked it up again, turned it over, examined the bruises that were marring her unquestionably skin. He had lifted her hand to her face.

"Is this my fault?" he asked, poking her hand gingerly, his eyes flashing with guilt when she winced.

"Yeah, I guess so," she said, her voice quiet. "But please don't leave just yet. There are stairs, and I don't know what they're like, and -"

"Hold on to the handrail," Inuyasha had interrupted, letting go of her hand as anger flashed in his mind again. He was sick and tired of having this blind her following him around like some sick animal! She could walk down the stairs fine on her own. Like he had said, there was a handrail she could hold on to.

So he left her at her locker, instead crossing the hallway and going down the stairs to his own personal cabinet. He was slow in getting all his things together, though; he was noticing the sideways glances that people were giving him, as if they were checking on him constantly, seeing what he was doing; if he flicked some of his long silver hair out of his face, many other people did the same. It was as if they were all trying to be him. It unnerved Inuyasha, somewhat. In fact, it made him feel so awkward that as soon as he had gotten his knapsack together he went back up the stairs and across the empty hallway. Well, there was still one person there; Kagome, with her knapsack on her back, standing at the top of the stairs, her knuckles white as she gripped the handrail as tightly as she could.

Inuyasha stopped. If Kagome heard him coming, then she would know that he had come back for her; she would feel as if she had won the argument. He couldn't let that happen; the -hadn't- won the argument. She had been wrong in everything that she had said.

But had she been?

_Yes,_ Inuyasha told himself. _My friends would never hurt anyone. They're good friends._

So he didn't approach Kagome. In fact, he hid himself behind another group of lockers when he saw Kikyou approaching the blind girl from behind, and watched the following scene completely hidden from the fully-functioning eyes of his girlfriend.

"Hello, Kagome," he heard Kikou say. He saw Kagome turn herself away from the stairs, to look in the direction of the voice she had heard.

"Who is it?" Kagome asked. "I can't see you."

"Of course you can't," Kikyou had said. "Now, I just wanted you to know what happens to blind girls who challenge me."

_Challenge her?_ Inuyasha thought. _How did Kagome challenge her?_ But these thoughts were swept out of his mind when he saw Kikyou extend her arms in Kagome's direction, and roughly push her down the stairs. Kikyou stood there and watched Kagome fall, listened to her scream as her arms flailed, trying to reach the handrail, or stop her fall, or something; and then the girl that Inuyasha had called "girlfriend" walked down the stairs and away from the fallen Kagome, laughing.

Inuyasha was frozen in place, utterly shocked at what he had just witnessed. How could she...how could anyone...

Without thinking, he stood up and ran across the hallway to the stairs that Kagome had fallen down, looking down them to see Kagome lying on her side, not moving. He ran down the stairs, feeling horribly guilty; if he hadn't left her alone, if he had just listened to her...

"Kagome!" he said, kneeling next to the unconscious girl. "Come on, Kagome, wake up! This isn't funny," he threatened. When the girl didn't answer, he began to freak out a bit. What if Kikyou had somehow killed her? What if Kaede found out?

He shook the girl's shoulders, trying to get her to wake up; Kagome responded by groaning a bit. She then fell into utter unconsciousness again, but it was enough to send a thorough wave of relief through Inyuasha; she wasn't dead.

"It's okay," he said to her, even though he knew she wouldn't be able to hear him. "I'll take care of you, come on." He lifted her carefully from the ground and held her in his arms, turning in the direction of the nurse's office.

_You should just leave her there,_ a voice in his head said. _She deserved what she got; she stood up to you! How many times in the past have you exacted similar revenge on people that got on your bad side?_

Inuyasha froze, realizing how true this was. It hadn't been that long since he had been the ruthless, cold-blooded, conscienceless bully that he now knew Kikyou had become. He looked down at Kagome, still lying limp in his arms. What had changed him?

Had it been her?

Maybe Kaede had made a good choice after all; maybe she had just wanted to teach him this lesson. It had only been one day and already Inuyasha was realizing that friendship, true friendship, was something he was utterly lacking; and also something that he wanted dearly.

Trying to get rid of these thoughts, he carried Kagome to the sick room, confident that he would never be the cold, reputation-loving bully that Cameron Drake High School knew him as. As he shrugged his wants for popularity aside, he was surprised at how happy he felt; as if a large weight had been taken off his shoulders. He smiled down at the unconscious girl.

_What a bizarre turn of events,_ he thought to himself. _Thanks, Kaede._

**Author's Note: Dum-dum-dum! Well, I hope that you guys are all happy with the update; I'm really surprised at the amount of reviews I got! Thanks so much! **

**More reviews, more updates. :D**

**hugs everyone**


	4. Chapter 3: Old Habits Die Hard

**Author's Note: Aaaand, Chapter 3 is completed in record time! All the reviews I'm getting, I swear they're like hyper-drugs, propelling me to write faster and faster. I don't think I've ever turned out this many chapters in such a short time, ever in my life. :D**

**Aaanyways, time to respond to reviews!**

**Att3nt10n D3f1c1t M3GG0: **Yeah, Kagome knows what she's talking about... :D Thanks so much for the compliments and the awesome review!

**PurityFlower1989:** Haha, here's your update. :P Thanks for the review!

**Tinkies: **Omigosh, thanks so much for the awesomefull review! Great enthusiasm lol

**Akihanah:** It is a little fast, isn't it? Oh well, my first Inuyasha fic can't be perfect. :P I do martial arts too! That's so cool! But I've never fallen down stairs before so I don't know what it'd be like. Thanks for the review:D

**HelikaAkileh: **Wow, you were almost crying :P If I had thought that Kagome really died, I probably would be too, but I am the all-knowing author:D:D Thanks for the review!

**Nekomata-17: **Yeah, I hate Kikyou too :D Thanks for the review!

**Bottlecaps:** Wow, thanks so much for the compliments :D I try to be as original as I can, but it can be difficult when there's over 48,000 different Inuyasha fanfics on this site alone! Thanks so much for the review! .

**spongekid A.K.A numbuh33: **I'm glad you love it:D Thanks for the review!

**inuyasha-backslashwave: **Thanks so much:D I'm glad you're enjoying it! Thanks for the great review!

**Kogas-angel: **Thanks so much! I'm glad it's not cheesy...I'm always afraid that it's going to sound corny or otherwise horrible. But I'm glad that you don't think it is:D Thanks so much for the review!

**Inuyashangel: **Yeah, I wish I knew a guy that was like Inuyasha... :P Thanks so much for the review! I'll read your fic as soon as I get some time lol :P

**...oh. my. gosh. OVERNIGHT I GOT LIKE 20 MORE REVIEWS SO I CAN'T POSSIBLY REPLY TO THEM ALL**

**Sorry guys, but there are just too many of you! . So I'll kind of reply to them all together. YOU GUYS ARE SO AWESOME! To everybody who complimented my writing, thanks so much :D I try hard to keep grammar and spelling correct and everything. To everyone who said they were crying, I know how you feel :D And...just...wow, there are so many reviews! asterix hugs everyone asterix.**

**Okay...on with chapter 3, since so many of you requested updates :D:D**

**CHAPTER 3: **_Old habits die hard_

When Inuyasha reached the sick room, Kagome still unconscious in his arms, he knocked on the door. About ten seconds passed, and Inuyasha raised his hand to knock a second time, when a tall woman with long black hair and smiling eyes opened the door. Her eyes widened, shocked at the sight of the half-demon boy carrying a girl that she had never seen before.

"Please," Inuyasha said, holding Kagome out a bit. "She fell down the stairs. I think she hit her head."

"Bring her in," the nurse said immediately, bustling about to prepare a bed for Kagome. "Tell me where she hit herself."

"I'm not sure, I wasn't watching her fall, I just found her at the bottom of the stairs," Inuyasha said, telling a half-truth. "I think she hit her head; she has a couple of cuts on her face," Inuyasha said, another flare of guilt coming to life in his heart as he ran his fingers over the already-clotting wounds. "They're not too deep, but still, they could get infected."

"Of course," the nurse said, coming back to the bed that Inuyasha had placed Kagome on. "Did you notice if she fell forwards or backwards?"

Inuyasha tried to remember exactly how it had happened. "Backwards, I'm pretty sure," he said. The nurse winced.

"Help me turn her over," she said commandingly. "We need to make sure there wasn't any permanent damage to her spine. Did she manage to break her fall against the ground?"

"I really don't know, but I can't imagine she would have; she wouldn't have been able to see the ground."

"Why not?" the nurse asked, while rubbing a lotion of sorts over the cuts on her face before motioning to Inuyasha to help her flip Kagome over. Inuyasha picked the girl up again, this time turning her over in his arms, and placed her back down on the bed, this time on her stomach. Without missing a beat, the nurse lifted up the back of Kagome's shirt and Inuyasha found himself looking at a series of bad-looking bruises that were already beginning to form along her spine.

"Why wouldn't she have been able to see the ground?" the nurse asked again.

"She's blind," Inuyasha answered simply, looking away from the girl as the nurse put her shirt down.

"Turn her over again," the nurse said simply, not acknowledging this new piece of information. Inuyasha did as he was told, but this time when he lifted Kagome into his arms, she stirred. He paused for a moment before putting her back down on the bed.

"Is she going to be okay?" Inuyasha asked.

"There doesn't seem to be any major damage," the nurse said, "but she was very lucky. She'll be rather sore for a while. Why was nobody with her?"

_Because you're an arrogant jerk,_ a voice in his head answered. Outwardly, Inuyasha just shrugged. The nurse scowled, but didn't push the matter any further.

"What's her name?" the nurse asked.

"Kagome Higurashi."

"Okay. You stay with her, if you please, while I go phone her parents and tell them to come here. Will you be able to manage that?"

Inuyasha glared at the nurse. "Of course I can manage it," he said, coldly. He pulled up a chair that had been leaning against the wall and sat himself down in it with a forceful air, as if trying to prove to the nurse that he wasn't useless. The nurse smiled warmly at him, and left the room.

Inuyasha looked again at the visible cuts and bruises that were now decorating Kagome. He bit his lip. It was his fault, wasn't it? He had caused her to look like this. He couldn't remember the last time he had felt this guilty; couldn't remember when he had last cared so much about any one person. What was it that was drawing him to her like this? Was it the fact that she was blind, helpless? Or was she just so different from everything that Inuyasha was used to, that he couldn't help but be curious?

Kagome stirred again, opening her eyes and blinking a few times. Inuyasha held very still, not making any sound; there was no way that Kagome could possibly know that he was there. That was why he was so surprised when she held out her hand, in his direction, and said, "Inuyasha," very quietly, her voice hoarse.

He blinked, not moving, not taking the offered hand. She couldn't see him; how did she know he was there.

"Inuyasha, are you there?" she said quietly. "I need..." Her voice faded away as she slipped back into unconsciousness, her hand falling back onto the bed. Inuyasha bit his lip again, taking the hand that she had held out to him. It was the one that he had bruised; he ran his fingers over the ugly purple marks that covered her palm. This was his fault.

He heard footsteps outside the nurse's office and was very shocked when Kikyou opened the door, looking at him. "Inuyasha?" she asked, her voice full of the innocence that it always carried. "Inuyasha, what are you doing here?"

A sudden blast of anger flared up in Inuyasha. "What do you mean?" he asked, standing up and approaching Kikyou. "The question is, what are -you- doing here?"

"I was looking for someone," Kikyou said. She noticed Kagome lying on the bed, and scowled at Inuyasha. "I thought you said you were completely done with her!" she said, her voice growing louder as the scowl turned into a glare.

"Yeah, well, I guess I was wrong," Inuyasha said. "What the hell were you thinking, pushing her down the stairs!"

Kikyou gasped. "I was thinking about how she insulted you, and I, and all our friends!" she almost-shouted. "Don't you remember everything she and her two pathetic friends said to you at lunch?"

Inuyasha fell quiet, beginning to remember everything that had been said. Kikyou moved closer to him, her scent filling him, making him want to pull her closer to him; almost intoxicating him. "What has she done to you?" Kikyou whispered into his ear. "What lies did she tell you?"

"You guys aren't true friends," Inuyasha said, his voice quiet now as he pulled Kikyou even closer to him. "That you don't really care about me."

Kikyou gasped quietly. "We -are- your true friends," Kikyou said. "At least, I am." She pulled away from him slightly so she could look him in the eye. "I love you, Yasha. Now, come on; leave her here, she doesn't deserve to be with you."

Inuyasha looked back at Kagome, all of the emotions that he had felt when he had first met her coming back to him. Hate, disgust, abandonment. "Just leave her here," Kikyou said again, her voice encouraging, innocent. "Come back to the people that love you. Cameron Drake High School loves you, Yasha."

"Yeah, they do," Inuyasha said, remembering how nobody ever shouted at him, insulted him. Only Kagome and her pathetic friends had done that. "You're right, Kikyou." All traces of guilt gone from his heart, he kissed Kikyou, and then the two of them left the sick room. Leaving Kagome behind.

Kagome's eyelids fluttered as tears fell down her face. She had been listening to the whole thing.

* * *

Inuyasha came to school early the next morning, not wanting to be bothered by people. During the past night, his emotions had decided to rebel against him, making him very confused. He had spent a lot of time remembering all the things that he could; everything about his time at Cameron Drake High School, he had called back to his mind. He had found two main conflicting things. One was that the entire student body seemed to love him, and never disagreed with him, or insulted him; all characteristics of friends. But when he came to school in a bad mood for whatever reason, they avoided him instead of comforting him, which isn't what friends would do. All in all, he had no idea what was going on, but decided to go with what he knew; that Kikyou was a good friend, that Kagome was pathetic and helpless, and that he was virtually worshipped throughout Cameron Drake High School. He would put up with Kagome only because it was necessary, but hated her once again, all guilt gone from his heart.

He was sitting on the steps, chatting with Kikyou and Arik, when he saw Kagome approach the school, being led by Sango. The cuts were still fresh on her face, and the bruises on her hand had fully formed, looking very painful. Sango glared at Inuyasha before muttering something to Kagome, bringing her inside.

Inuyasha said a quick farewell to Arik and Kikyou before following Sango inside. They walked up to Kagome's locker and Sango helped the other girl get all of her stuff ready for the next day.

"Inuyasha's here," Sango said to Kagome. "I need to go get my stuff ready, as well. If he treats you as horribly as he did yesterday, just tell me and I'll pound him for you."

Kagome smiled weakly. "Sure thing," she said. "Have a great morning. Say hi to Miroku for me," she said. Sango hugged her quickly before giving Inuyasha one final glare and walking off.

Kagome didn't say anything to Inuyasha as she closed her locker and swung her knapsack onto her back, wincing slightly. Inuyasha found himself snickering at her pain, an obvious display of the fact that he was back to his normal self. She glared at him, her gaze surprisingly accurate.

"What? You shouldn't have shouted at me yesterday, you wouldn't have taken that nasty fall," Inuyasha said. There was a moment of silence as the girl seemed to think about this.

"What happened to you?" Kagome asked, out of the blue. Inuyasha was caught off guard.

"What do you mean?" he asked, the coldness gone from his voice.

"Nothing," Kagome said dismissively, holding out her good hand, indicating that Inuyasha should take her to their first period class. Inuyasha grabbed it roughly, but not roughly enough for bruises to form.

"I still hate you," Inuyasha said to the girl, leading her around the masses of people and down the stairs to their classroom. He received no answer, the girl instead focusing on keeping a very tight grip on the handrail, making her own way down the stairs.

When they reached the classroom, Kagome sat down at her table and Inuyasha sat next to her. She still wasn't looking at him or talking to him, nor acknowledging his presence in any way. Inuyasha found himself wondering what she meant when she had said, "What happened to you?". What was she referring to? He had no idea, and would have asked her for clarification, except for the fact that she obviously wasn't talking to him.

In second period, their teacher was late, and Kagome took the opportunity to say a few words to Inuyasha. "Why do you listen to Kikyou?" she asked.

"Because she's my -friend-," Inuyasha answered. "Can't you understand that, or are you too stupid?" He bit his lip after that, wondering why he had just insulted her; the words had come out almost by reflex. Guilt flared in him again.

Kagome ignored the insult, falling silent again. Inuyasha opened his mouth to say something, but at that moment the teacher walked into the room, looking hassled; Inuyasha decided against talking in the teacher's presence, lest he should get into serious trouble. Instead, he used the classtime to think about everything that had been happening to him; about everything that Kikyou had said, and everything that Kagome had said. He didn't pay any attention at all to what the teacher was saying, but by the end of the class, he had made up his mind.

At lunchtime, Inuyasha took Kagome back to her locker, and upon seeing Sango and Miroku already waiting for her, left her standing alone without bidding her farewell. He stalked off, slightly frustrated by the fact that he couldn't stop thinking about the blind girl. After seeing Kagome being pushed down the stairs, so badly hurt like that; well, it was difficult to get that image out of his mind.

He found Kikyou waiting for him in front of his locker, in the same fashion that Kagome's friends had waited for her. He smiled, kissing Kikyou. "Hey."

"Hey yourself," Kikyou replied, smiling.

"We need to talk," Inuyasha said, making Kikyou look shocked for a moment. Seeing her confusion, he clarified: "It's about Kagome."

"What, you're still thinking about that creature?" Kikyou asked, disappointment in her voice. "That's twice now you've said you're done with her, only to talk about her again."

"Sorry, Kikyou; but I just can't understand why you pushed her down the stairs. She may be weak and everything, but she doesn't deserve being hurt like that."

Many people walking by him paused, obviously eavesdropping on his conversation. He snarled at everyone and they quickly hurried away, carrying their lunches with them. Inuyasha turned back to Kikyou, who was clicking her tongue at him.

"Of course she deserved it," Kikyou said. "She's a burden to you; an obstacle in your life. Don't you think she should be punished for that?"

"It's not her fault," Inuyasha said, realizing that he was defending Kagome, but not minding all that much. "Really. She didn't choose to be blind."

Now more and more people were openly listening, staring at him, their expressions gawking. Kikyou, too, was staring at him. Inuyasha turned to look back at everyone, confused. "What?" he asked threateningly.

"You've changed, Inuyasha," Kikyou said, placing her hand alongside his face, turning his gaze back to her. "What has she done to you?" she asked, quietly; almost concernedly.

"What, is it required that I hate the blind girl?" Inuyasha asked, searching Kikyou's eyes. He had always been good at finding emotions in people's eyes, and as he searched Kikyou's he found what he was looking for; a complete and utter lack of love, and instead, suspicion and disappointment. Kikyou's eyes gave him her answer, and everybody's answer: in order to be cool, you had to hate Kagome and her friends; in order to be popular, you had to do what everybody else was doing.

How long had he been blind to that? How many years had he played the bully, the big tough guy that everybody worshipped? All of the sudden his emotions weren't confusing him anymore; they were laid out plain and clear, as were the emotions of everyone else in Cameron Drake High School.

He had no true friends. The people that never argued with him, never insulted him; they were _afraid_ of him. They were afraid of losing all chance at popularity by getting on his bad side. He was just an object to them.

As all of this snapped into place, so did one other thing; he himself, by not hating the outcasts, was losing popularity. In just five minutes, maybe less, he had plunged from being the coolest guy in school to an outcast himself. He smiled wryly to himself.

"If all you guys are thick enough to think that people who are nice to outcasts should be outcasts themselves, then I don't know why I ever called you friends," Inuyasha said. "See ya." He grabbed his lunch and moved for the door, when Kikyou grabbed his arm. He looked up at her, looked into her eyes.

"You don't have to do this," she said. "Don't give yourself up like that. You can still be cool. You can still take back what you said."

Understanding flashed in Inuyasha's mind once again. "If being cool means acting mean and cold to the few people that really need friends, then I don't want to have anything to do with it. Ever again." With that, he broke away from Kikyou and walked out the door, into the bright sunshine outside.

* * *

He found Kagome, Sango and Miroku sitting beneath a tree in the schoolyard. Sango and Miroku saw him coming, lifting their heads up and glaring at him; Sango also explained what was going on to Kagome, who shrugged and continued to eat her sandwich. Their conversation fell dead the moment that Sango and Miroku saw him; Inuyasha wondered if they had been talking about him.

"Can I sit down?" he asked. He didn't receive an answer, only more glares, so he shrugged and made himself comfortable in front of Kagome.

"What are you doing here?" Sango asked, her voice angry. Inuyasha smiled grimly.

"I wanted to apologize," he said, wincing at the words. They seemed so unfamiliar, so...weak. "You know, for being a jerk and everything."

"Get out of here," Kagome said, her voice cracking, betraying the fact that she was close to tears. "Go away, and stop mocking me and my friends."

Inuyasha was very taken aback by her harsh words. "I'm not mocking you," he said, his voice sincere. "Really. I want to apologize."

"What, so you can push her down the stairs yourself this time?" Miroku retorted. "Get back to your cronies, fiend."

Inuyasha's eyebrows furrowed. "I don't have cronies anymore."

"Oh, sorry; I forgot that you call them -friends-," Sango sneered. "Some people never learn."

Inuyasha sighed. The situation seemed so hopeless. "No, I know it sounds bad, but you guys were right," he said, trying to explain himself, but seeing the disbelief in all their eyes. "I know they're not my friends. I can see that now. Somehow it just all fell apart so fast...and then it kind of came back together...and I saw that I was being an idiot. Really!" he exclaimed.

"Get out of here," Sango said again. Inuyasha shook his head.

"Fine. I've been thrown out by the popular people -and- the unpopular people," he said, feeling more alone than he ever had in his life. "How pathetic am I?"

He started to walk away, but Kagome called after him. "Wait," she said. Inuyasha's sensitive ears caught the gasps of Sango and Miroku.

"What do you mean, 'wait'?" Miroku asked, looking at Kagome as if she had lost her mind. "This guy hurt you so badly, and you want him to come back?"

"No, I want to give him a chance," Kagome replied. "By refusing him like this we're acting just as horribly as he did. Let's just hear what he has to say, okay?"

Sango shook her head. "Kagome, you're too nice," she said. "He doesn't deserve a second chance."

"Everyone deserves a second chance," Kagome said, and Inuyasha's heart was filled with wonder. How forgiving could this girl be? It was his fault that she fell down the stairs, his fault that all these bad things that been happening to her; he had ignored her, insulted her, been a horrible person. And she was willing to give him a second chance?

She was truly one of a kind.

Sango sighed and waved her hand at Inuyasha, calling him back. He almost ran back to the three of them and sat himself down in front of Kagome. "I'm back," he explained to the blind girl.

"I heard you coming," she said, sounding bored. "Now, tell me everything that happened."

The rest of the lunch hour passed with Inuyasha explaining everything that he had said to Kikyou and all the other witnesses that had been listening. Throughout his story, Kagome, Sango and Miroku pounded him with questions. When he finished, there was silence. Kagome was the one to break it.

"So tell me what you think of us," she said, cautiously.

"You're...all...really different, I guess," Inuyasha said. "You didn't care about popularity. I've never seen that before."

"Most people have never been hurt by popularity, so that's why they strive for it," Miroku said. "I don't know the history of Kagome and the lovely Sango, but I myself was once very popular." Sango and Kagome gasped mockingly.

"Miroku? Popular? Noooo," Sango said, making a large display of falling over with shock. Kagome laughed, knowing what she had done without needing to see it.

"Difficult as it is to believe, it is true," he said, shaking his head sadly. "But after five years of holding similar status to that which Inuyasha had - well,until recently -I found myself more alone than anybody in the entire world. It was horrible," he said, his eyes glazing over as he remembered it. "One mistake and suddenly it was like everyone was my enemy."

Sango grinned. "I was never popular," she said, smiling. "I never wanted to be. I always thought that the popular people were stuck up snobs. They weren't really nice to me; I ended up with the whole dark, traumatic childhood thing. I hate all popular people by default."

Inuyasha sniggered. "Well, I guess I'm not popular anymore. Kagome, what's your story."

"Sango, what time is it?" Kagome asked, looking at her best friend - and avoiding the question in the process. Sango looked down at her watch and gasped.

"Time for us to get going," she said, helping Kagome up. "Inyuasha, can you take her? Miroku and I have to go..."

Inuyasha smiled, taking Kagome's hand gently. "No worries." He began to lead Kagome back to her locker, quickly so that they wouldn't be late for class. Sango and Miroku hung back for a moment, looking after Inuyasha with confused expressions on their faces.

"Well, that shift certainly happened fast," Sango said.

"I guess Kagome knows what she's doing," Miroku agreed. "Kaede, too. I guess that, in the end, she didn't make such a bad choice after all? It's as if she wanted Inuyasha to realize what friendship is."

Sango thought about this for a moment. "Yeah, I guess you're right," she finally agreed. "It's almost like she saw this coming."

"We'd better get going to class, my beautiful Sango," Miroku said, ducking under Sango's flying hand. "Ah, and you're becoming predictable," he said, chuckling.

* * *

Kagome was still careful around Inyuasha, not yet trusting him fully. But when the rest of her day was the most bizarre she had ever experienced, she began to believe that Inuyasha really had given up on popularity. She heard people snickering when she and Inuyasha walked through the hallways, but something in her gut told her that they weren't directed at her. Maybe people whispered things like, "Look at that horrible half-blood with the blind girl." And all the while, Inyuasha never let go of her hand, keeping her close to him.

Only Kikyou didn't seem to direct her anger at Inuyasha. More than once, Kagome had gotten the feeling that the most popular girl in school was planning revenge on Kagome, for taking Inuyasha away.

**Author's Note: Sorry for the cliffie, but I had to end it... lol**

**I am really, truly astounded by the amount of reviews I got! You guys are amazing!**

**Keep reviewing and I'll keep writing:D:D**


	5. Chapter 4: The Beginnings

**Author's Note: Aaaaaaand, here's chapter 4! Thanks so much to everybody who reviewed, unfortunately there are still too many of you for me to reply to everything... but thanks so much guys! I answered a couple of your questions at the end of this chappie.**

**CHAPTER 4: **_The Beginnings_

Inuyasha had planned to get to Cameron Drake High School early so that he could avoid the crowd, and have some time to think. The previous day had been really busy, and everything had happened so fast; almost too fast. In the morning he had hated Kagome, and by the end of the day, he was asking for her forgiveness. Why had he done that? He had no idea. Something about Kagome and all her friends had triggered something in him: something alien and unfamiliar. In just one or two days, Kagome had filled his head with new ideas, made him see new truths; had made him a completely different person, almost. In just one or two days, he had gone from being first-class bully to a complete outcast.

What really surprised him was the fact that he didn't mind. He felt...reborn, almost, now that he wasn't being fawned over all the time. He enjoyed not having girls follow him, giggling, down the hallways. He enjoyed not having rooms fall silent in awe whenever he entered. It was kind of nice, not being popular.

The only problem was that, since it had all happened so damn fast, he had a crazy headache. So he had come to school early in the morning to get some fresh air, clear his thoughts; basically pull himself together before facing the turmoil of high school life.

But when he got there, he realized that he wasn't alone. Sitting beneath the same tree under which Inuyasha had apologized to her, sat Kagome, her head bent low over a piece of paper, writing something with the same pen that Inuyasha saw her use in class; the one that left raised ink marks so that she could 'see' what she was doing. Inuyasha held his breath, willing himself not to make any noise. He could hear her singing something; some beautiful, cheerful melody. His ears perked up on his head; her voice was amazing.

Not wanting to disturb her, he walked as quietly as he possibly could around the tree, keeping far away from it, until he was looking at the back of the tree, Kagome on the other side. Confident that she hadn't heard him, he began to approach the tree. He froze when the singing stopped for a moment. Had she heard him coming? What would she do if she had?

But these thoughts only lasted a second as the girl yawned and went back to her song. Smiling, Inuyasha continued tip-toeing up to her until he was almost directly behind her, on the other side of the tree. He looked over her shoulder at what she was writing.

It was a picture; a surprisingly accurate and realistic picture, considering that Kagome couldn't see what she was doing. It was a picture of a large tree in bloom, flowers dotting its foliage. There was a child sitting beneath the tree; a girl in a flowing skirt, with long hair that was dancing in the breeze. The girl was leaning against the trunk of the tree, looking up at the sky, looking for all the world the happiest child on earth.

Kagome ran her fingers over the surface of her drawing, smiling as she continued to hum the melody of the song. A thought suddenly surfaced in Inuyasha's mind and he grinned, somewhat evilly. _Why not?_ he thought to himself. _There's no-one else here..._

He turned his head around the other side of the tree so that he could speak over Kagome's right shoulder, but kept the rest of him to her left.

"What a lovely picture," he said quietly, immediately turning back to Kagome's left. She looked over her right shoulder, standing up and scowling.

"Inuyasha?" she asked, beginning to back away, coming closer and closer to Inuyasha, who had moved behind her. "Come on, I know you're there." She kept one hand trailing along the trunk of the tree as she circled it, Inuyasha staying one step behind her. "Inuyasha," she called again, her voice almost sing-song, as if she was playing Hide-And-Seek.

Suddenly Inuyasha grabbed her from behind, pulling her close to him in a bear hug, then quickly let go of her and ran up the tree, laughing happily. "Got you!" he shouted down at her. He had climbed the tree quickly; he was now almost at the top, with a clear view of Kagome.

She looked up at the tree, her hands feeling around on the bark for something to grab on to. She found a particularly low-hanging branch, tested its strength, and then easily hoisted herself up on it. Inuyasha was surprised by her strength.

"Be careful," he said. "You wouldn't want to fall."

"Come on, that's not fair," Kagome called, her voice cheery. "And when did you have this lovely change of heart, that you didn't completely hate me?"

"Hey!" Inuyasha said, pretending to be hurt by her words. "I apologized yesterday..."

"But what changed your mind about being cool and having popular friends and everything?" Kagome asked, finding another branch and hoisting herself up on that one, coming closer to where Inuyasha sat so that she wouldn't have to speak so loudly. He watched her approach, amazed at her bravery. He didn't think he'd be willing to climb a tree with his eyes closed.

"I guess you changed my mind," he answered. "I don't know. Everything that you said about them not being true friends...I guess it put doubts in my head."

"You realized that they were just using you?" Kagome asked, feeling around for another branch.

"Yeah, I guess. Kagome, I don't think you should be climbing the tree," Inuyasha said, climbing down a couple of branches so that he was sitting right next to her. She stopped looking for another branch, instead turning her gaze to Inuyasha.

"When did you start caring so much?" she asked, her voice still a bit suspicious.

"When I realized that nobody cared about me," Inuyasha answered. Kagome smiled.

"Do you miss being popular?" she asked, leaning into the tree's thick trunk, wincing as she had to put some of her weight on the bruises that were almost covering her, reminiscent of her fall down the stairs.

"Not really," Inuyasha replied. "I mean, at least now I can have friends that actually care about me."

"And do you still think that Kaede's an idiot?" Kagome asked. Inuyasha paused, considering this.

"No," he answered, finally. "I think that she was planning this. It was almost as if she was trying to teach me a lesson."

"Well, it -is- her job to look out for all her students, not just the blind ones," Kagome said, smiling. "So you've really changed, then? No more trying to be cool or accepted? You just want to be friends with me, Sango and Miroku?"

Inuyasha took a deep breath. That was a lot to promise, but for some reason the answer seemed really obvious. "Yeah, surprisingly," he said. Kagome closed her eyes, smiling. A tear slid down her cheek and Inuyasha stared at her.

"Why are you crying?" he asked. "What did I say wrong?"

"Nothing," she answered, still smiling. "I just can't believe that it worked out so perfectly. I mean, you...just, look at you!" she said, waving her arm at Inuyasha, almost hitting him in the face. Inuyasha grinned. "You're so different, you're so...nice," she said, looking up at the tree's branches. Then she looked down to where the ground would be.

"How high up are we?" she asked, suddenly gripping the branch below her with renewed strength.

"Maybe eight or ten feet," Inuyasha answered.

"Okay, I want to get down from here," Kagome said. "Where's the branch below me?"

"Hold on, I'll help you out," Inuyasha said, and Kagome stopped moving. He slipped down so that he was below her, well-balanced on a particularly thick branch. "Okay, just slide down and I'll catch you," he said.

"No way," Kagome said. "I still don't trust you completely." She grinned as evilly as Inuyasha had done before. "How do I know you're not just going to let me fall?"

"Why would I do that?" Inuyasha asked, grinning now as well. Kagome shrugged.

"You could be lying about everything," she said, her voice telling Inuyasha that she was just teasing him. "You could still be trying to be popular and everything."

"Then I'll have to make you trust me," Inuyasha said, standing up suddenly and easily lifting Kagome from the branch that she was sitting on, being careful not to put too much pressure on her bruises. She shrieked a bit as she suddenly found herself wrapped in Inuyasha's arms, the wind whistling through her hair as the dog-demon jumped out of the tree. Scared, she wrapped her arms around Inuyasha's neck, burying her face in his shoulder. He grinned widely, setting her down on the ground below the tree that she had been occupying before he had arrived. She laughed, feeling around for the notebook that she had been drawing in, and putting it back into her back, along with the pen. Inuyasha looked around the yard, noticing that Sango and Miroku were approaching them. He waved at them cheerfully.

"Your other friends are coming," Inuyasha said to Kagome, who looked up with a large grin on her face, waving.

"Kagome!" Sango shouted. "Do I need to pound Inuyasha again?"

Kagome laughed. "Maybe just a bit!" she shouted back.

"What'd he do?" Miroku asked, not shouting since he was close enough to Kagome to be heard when speaking normally.

"He freaked me out!" the blind girl replied, the huge smile not yet leaving her face. Sango sat down next to her. "But it wasn't so bad," she added, giggling a bit. Inuyasha's face glowed with pride.

"You have no idea how fun it is to make a girl shriek," he said, evilly. Kagome gasped and threw a rock at him. It flew past him, missing his headby about a foot.

"We need to work on your aim," Inuyasha said, sitting in front of the girl. Mirok sat next to Sango, smiling a bit.

"Well, although Sango-of-heavenly-beauty does not seem to approve of Mr. Inuyasha," Miroku said, making Sango blush a little, "I think that he's earned the trust of Kagome, and hence should be welcomed into our group."

"We're not a triangle anymore!" Kagome said cheerfully.

"Oh, being square is so much better," Sango said sarcastically, glaring at Miroku. "But I guess I can't argue with you guys." She sighed, looking at Inuyasha. "I swear on my honour that if you ever do anything at all to hurt her, I'll-"

Miroku placed his hand over Sango's, grinning widely. "My dear Sango, we all know that you will rip Inuyasha apart painfully, limb by limb, and watch him die if he ever does anything to precious Kagome," he said. "But I must say thatbeing killedby your hands would be a very honourable way to die." He quickly made a grab at Sango's butt. She slapped him, hard on the face.

"This is the most bizarre square of friends I've ever seen," Kagome commented.

* * *

"Kikyou, are you alright?" Rhia asked her, looking at the most popular girl in school with concern in her eyes. Kikyou had been unusually quiet, keeping to herself, not answering everybody's pounding questions, not saying 'hello' to people that greeted her in the hallway; not even taking the time to glare at any boys who tried to flirt with her. Rhia was starting to really worry about the girl.

"This is about Inuyasha, isn't it?" she asked. Kikyou immediately whirled around and glared at her; she took a step back and muttered, "Sorry," as quietly as she could. Kikyou glared at her again and continued to walk down the hallway.

"Look, it's not your fault that he left," Rhia said again, desperately trying to get Kikyou to listen to her. "It's that girl's fault...Kagome...right?"

"Yeah," Kikyou snarled. "It'sall her fault."

"What are you going to do?" Rhia asked.

"What we always do when people think they can stand up to the leaders of Cameron Drake High School," Kikyou said. "Teach her a lesson."

* * *

Throughout their morning classes, Inuyasha watched Kagome taking her notes with that odd pen of hers. He made a mental note to ask her about it later. Although he was now friends with Kagome, and his emotions were all sorted out, he still found it difficult to pay attention to the teachers; now something else was bothering him.

He knew why Miroku and Sango didn't care for popularity. But what was Kagome's story?

She had been so quick to avoid answering the question, Inuyasha figured that it must be something bad. He couldn't stop thinking about her; about how she was so different from everybody he had ever met. She lived like a normal teenage girl; learning in school, making friends, even climbing trees - but she had such a disadvantage. She was definitely something special, and Inuyasha really wanted to find out what had happened to her.

By lunchtime, his head was hurting.

He led Kagome up to her locker and left her there for only a minute as he ran back to his own locker, picked up his lunch, and ran back. When he got there she was sitting on the floor, her back to her locker, carrying on a happy-looking conversation with Sango and Miroku. When Inuyasha approached the familiar look of suspicion arose in Sango's eyes, but Miroku waved cheerfully at him. Kagome, once Miroku told her what was going on, did the same.

"Do you guys want to eat outside?" Inuyasha asked. "It's a nice day."

"Oooh, can we go back to that tree?" Miroku inquired. "It's so nice and shady, and I must say that the leaves provide a beautiful background to the lovely Sango's face."

Sango blushed and pushed Miroku over. He sat up quickly, staring at her.

"What, no slap?" he asked, very surprised. "My dear Sango, surely you can't have-"

WHAM.

Miroku raised a hand to his stinging cheek. "Ah, she's back," he said. Kagome laughed.

"To the tree, then!" she said, standing up. Sango and Miroku stood as well, Sango taking Kagome's hand. The group of friends made their way outside, everybody but Kagome shielding their eyes against the bright sunlight. Since most of the students were eating their lunch in the cafeteria, the foursome found themselves pretty much alone. They made their way to the tree, all four of them sitting with their backs to the tree, so that they made a kind of ring around it. Sango, sitting next to Kagome, whispered in her ear, "We've become the Tree Cult." Kagome giggled.

It only took about fifteen minutes for the four of them to finish off their lunches, leaving a full forty-five minutes for them to do whatever they wanted. Miroku and Inuyasha stood and walked around the other side of the tree and sat in front of Kagome and Sango.

"Haha, now we can see you," Miroku said. "Sango, fifteen minutes is an awful long time to go without seeing your lovely face."

Sango slapped him again, but not as hard as she usually did. She was smiling. Kagome looked at her, confused.

"I get the feeling that you didn't hit him as hard as you normally do," she said. Sango raised her eyebrows.

"How do you figure?" she asked.

"It wasn't as loud," Kagome said, shrugging. "Ah, well." Sango sighed and looked away. With an evil grin on her face, Kagome put her hands behind Sango's back and pushed her best friend towards Miroku.

"Ack!" Sango cried, finding herself toppled over on top of Miroku. She blushed furiously, immediately picking herself up, but not before Miroku took the opportunity to grab her butt. She slapped him; harder than usual, this time.

"What'd you do that for?" she asked, rounding on Kagome, who had fallen over laughing. Sango grinned a bit, Kagome's laughter being infectious; but walked over to the blind girl.

"Inuyasha, could you maybe help me get revenge on her?" she asked, grinning just as evilly as Kagome had. Inuyasha returned the expression.

"But of course!" he said, cackling. Kagome stood, ran around the tree, dragging her hands along the bark; and when she had done a half-circle around the tree and knew she was facing away from her friends she began to run. Sango and Inuyasha caught up to her easily.

"You can't run from us, blind girl," Sango said, laughing as Inuyasha lifted Kagome easily off her feet. Kagome shrieked when she felt the ground move away from her, and Sango laughed again. "Haha! Payback!" she said, punching the air in celebration. Inuyasha spun around quickly, trying to make Kagome dizzy,and Kagome leaned in closer to him.

"Put me down put me down put me down," she said, her smile betraying the fact that she was somewhat enjoying this. Miroku, missing out on the action, ran up to Inuyasha and began to poke Kagome in the forehead.

"Why is it that you touch her forehead, while you can't seem to resist my ass?" Sango asked, placing her hands on her hips, shaking her head at Miroku, who smiled innocently.

"I simply cannot help myself when it comes to you, dear Sango," he said. "Your fury is what makes it so much fun." Sango suddenly ran at him, bopping him over the head with her fist. Miroku laughed. "See? My point has been confirmed." Sango sighed, realizing that she couldn't win, and Inyuasha spun Kagome around again.

"Okay, okay, put me down, I'm too dizzy," Kagome said, and Inuyasha complied, being careful not to accidentally poke her in the back, knowing that there were bad bruises there. When her feet hit the ground Kagome sighed, sitting down immediately and grabbing fistfuls of grass. "Land!" she cried, laughing.

Inuyasha noticed that Sango had somehow managed to chase Miroku up the tree. "Hey, Kagome," he said. "Mr. Pervert ran up the tree in order to avoid the wrath of Sango."

"Seriously?" Kagome asked, standing up quickly, taking a moment to regain her balance as she was still somewhat dizzy. "Can you take me over to them?" she asked, holding out her still-bruised hand. Seeing the purple marks all over her palm brought back some guilt to Inuyasha. He desperately wanted to ask her what had happened to her, probably all those years ago, to make her not care about popularity; but they were having too much fun, and he didn't want to make her upset when she was just starting to trust him.

So instead he said, "Sure," and took her hand in his, leading her towards the tree.

"Get back down here, you stupid pervert," Sango was shouting up at Miroku. "I need to beat the crap out of you."

"Oh, -that's- an incentive to go back to you," Miroku said jokingly. "I'll tell you what. I'll come down there and let you do whatever you want with me if you'll do just one thing."

"And what would that be?" Sango asked, sounding annoyed.

"Go on a date with me."

"No!" Sango shouted back, blushing again. Inuyasha led Kagome up to Sango and Kagome grabbed Sango's hand. Inuyasha quickly climbed the tree, making himself comfortable next to the other boy, and whispered something in his ear. Miroku laughed.

"You should go out with him," Kagome said to Sango, now that they were alone. She whirled around to face her; Kagome felt Sango's hair whip against her face and grinned. "Come on; I know you like him."

"I do not!" Sango said, a little too loudly. Miroku and Inuyasha stared down at them. "What are you looking at?" Sango shouted at them, flustered now.

"Just 'cause I'm blind doesn't mean I can't feel things," Kagome said. "You always tense up when he compliments you, and you're not slapping him as hard anymore."

Sango stared at the girl. "You're weird, you know that?" she said, but she was smiling. Kagome detected the submission in Sango's voice and hugged her best friend.

"I knew I was right!" she said. "Now come on, go on a date with him! It'd be fun. Trust me."

Sango sighed. "On one condition, and one condition only."

"Whatever you want," Kagome said. "Anything would be worth the fun of hearing about your date with Miroku." Kagome giggled at the very thought of it.

"You come with me," Sango said. "And Miroku'll probably bring Inuyasha."

"Oh, so you trust him now?" Kagome asked, beaming. "Yay!"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. So you'll come?"

"Of course I'll come!" Kagome said, practically bouncing. "I can't believe it, Sango's going on a date with Miroku, hahaha!"

Inuyasha's sensitive ears heard Kagome's cheer and he stared down at Sango. "You're -what-?" he asked incredulously. Sango groaned.

"Miroku, come down from that damned tree," she said. Miroku grinned.

"I already told you, you have to go on a date with me," he said, his voice cheery. He knew that Sango would never accept.

"I'm bringing Kagome with us," Sango said.

Miroku nearly fell out of the tree in shock; Inuyasha grabbed his hand at the last minute and he righted himself, smiling his thanks to the hanyou. He stared at Sango, in a state of complete and utter disbelief.

"You'll do it?" he asked. "Really?"

"Yeah. You can bring Inuyasha if you want. Now, get back down here and let me pummel you," Sango said, cracking her knuckles. Miroku's grin looked as if it was going to reach his ears as he practically bounced down the tree and ran up to Sango.

"My lovely, beautiful, heart-of-gold Sango," he said. "I await your punishment."

Sango slapped him three times, hard, on his cheek; he took the blows with the smile on his face. Inuyasha had descended the tree as well and was now standing next to Miroku.

"I can't believe she said yes," he said, his expression obviously surprised. "Miroku, do you want me to go with you?"

"Yeah, why not?" Miroku said. "We'll get to know you better." He grinned as Sango almost slapped him again, but then thought better of it.

"Stop smiling at me!" Sango said, beginning to smile herself. "It's just a stupid date. Don't try to kiss me or anything."

"I wouldn't think of it, Sango dear," Miroku said, looking at his watch. "Holy crap! We have to get going!" he exclaimed. "See you after school, Sango, my love," he said, wiggling his eyebrows. Sango rolled her eyes and walked back to the school. Inuyasha took Kagome's hand and led her up to her locker.

"You're going to be okay getting your stuff together on your own?" Inuyasha asked. "I need to get my knapsack."

"Yeah, just come back when you're done," Kagome said. "I don't know where the classroom is."

Inuyasha grinned. "See you in a minute," he said, and ran off to his own locker. Kagome stood frozen in front of her own locker for a few seconds, thinking of the prospect of Sango going on a date with Miroku. Now that would be absolutely hilarious.

She opened her locker, reading the Braille inscriptions on her various binders and textbooks until she found all the ones she would need, and stuffed them in her knapsack. She had just gotten everything together when she heard footsteps approaching her. She smiled, closed her locker door, and gingerly placed her knapsack on her back.

"Ready to go?" Inuyasha asked her. She smiled as he took her hand, not waiting for an answer before leading her away from her locker and towards their next class.

**Author's Note: OMIGOSH 50 REVIEWS! THAT'S SO AWESOME! Wow... I bet we could hit 60 reviews before the next chapter's ready to go. That's amazing:D:D:D**

**Tell me what you thought of this chapter! Too sappy / fluffy? Should I start getting into the plot with Kikyou and stuff?**

**Oh, and for those of you that asked questions about Kagome's sight: Kagome might be getting her sight back eventually, remember that the doctor had promised her that it would come back soon :D**

**And also to Secret411, I just upload my story like normal; upload the .doc file through the Document Manager, check it over with the Edit/Preview function, then enter the Chapter section of the stories and add the uploaded document as a new chapter. I don't know how else to explain it, sorry... **

**More reviews: faster and more numerous updates. . Thanks so much to everyone that's reading this!**


	6. Chapter 5: Kikyou's Revenge

**Author's Note: First point of order! THANKS SO MUCH YOU GUYS ARE AWESOME! I thought we'd get 60 reviews and I woke up this morning and there were 83 of them! You guys are soooo awesome.**

**Second point of order! A great big "Thank You" to fireblazie, who kindly pointed out that I had anonymous reviews disabled. Thanks so much for telling me that, I was completely unaware :P**

**For those of you that wanted to know whether Kikyou and Inuyasha broke up - well, she's pretty much plotting revenge against him and Kagome so I think it's safe to say that they hate each other. :D**

**Let's see if we can reach 100 reviews after this chapter! **

**Chapter 5: **_Kikyou's Revenge  
_

Two weeks had passed; two weeks in which Kagome, Sango, Miroku and Inuyasha had become better friends and grown even more apart from everybody else in Cameron Drake High School. The last remnants of Inuyasha's time of popularity had faded into the dust; the last few people that had followed him hopefully, confident that he would once again claim the title of "The Coolest", had given up on him and instead turned to their new leader, Arik. Kikyou had taken to glaring at Inuyasha whenever they passed each other, but everybody else in the school acted as if the group of outcasts didn't exist. Inuyasha was beginning to feel all the effects of being unaccepted; the constant silent treatment, the wide collection of cold shoulders, and the utter cast-outedness. But he always looked forwards to seeing Sango, Miroku and Kagome; so long as they were all together, the rest of the idiots in Cameron Drake could go stuff themselves, for all they cared. They were happy, just being themselves. The rest of the high school looked down their noses at them; the group of exiles had become almost alien.

It was Wednesday. On Wednesdays Kagome had to come to school early, as her little brother had a band practice of some sort and her mother wouldn't be able to drop her off at school at the normal time. The previous Wednesday, Inuyasha had been able to come early as well, but this time something had come up and he had been unable to accompany her. He would only be able to get to school around the same time that Sango and Miroku did. Kagome hadn't minded; she would be able to take care of herself, after all, and it would give her time to think about Sango's 'big date' with Miroku that was coming up on Saturday. It had been decided that the four of them would go, but Inuyasha and Kagome would leave halfway through so that Miroku and Sango could have some 'alone time'. Sango hadn't been very happy about this, but eventually agreed to it after Miroku had sworn not to grope her, and proved himself by not touching her for an entire day. It had obviously been difficult for him, but in the end he had managed to win Sango's partial trust.

Kagome made her way along the familiar path to the large tree that stood in the middle of the schoolyard, a smile growing on her face. Nobody else in the school came close to the tree; it had become the territory of what the entire student body referred to as "The Four". Kagome settled herself beneath its wide branches, entertaining herself by twirling her hair around her finger and daydreaming about how the date would go. Apparently Miroku was planning to take Sango to a fancy restaurant near a lake. Sango had promised Kagome that they would go shopping on Friday after school, to pick out outfits for the both of them. Kagome didn't have anything fancy that still fit her, and Sango just liked going clothes-shopping -for all her outward violent tendencies, she was just a normal teenage girl underneath.

Lost in thought, Kagome almost didn't hear the footsteps approaching her; but when she did hear them, she looked up and smiled. "Inuyasha, I thought you said you were going to be late?"

She didn't receive an answer. "Inuyasha?" she asked again, before feeling something hard hit her head. All sounds around her faded away into nothingness as she slipped into unconsciousness.

* * *

When Kagome finally came to, her first instinct was to freeze. The only thing supporting her was a thin branch beneath her, and a skinny tree trunk. She felt along the wood's surface; there was only one tree in the grounds of Cameron Drake High School - The Four's tree -and its trunk would only be this thin ifshe was sitting very high up. Instinctively, she wrapped her arms around the wood, feeling a cold wind tousle her hair. She knew that she was high off the ground. She ran her hands over her surroundings again, trying to find some way to get down, and came across a piece of paper with raised marks on it. She picked it up, recognizing the Braille alphabet. Rubbing her head - it still hurt from whatever had hit her - she ran her fingers over the letters, reading the note. 

_Kagome,_

_I warned you not to disturb the social hierarchy. We need to teach you a lesson. This is step one. I wouldn't suggest moving very much; who knows what would happen if you fell?_

The note was unsigned, but Kagome knew who it was from: Kikyou. She had been planning revenge on Kagome -for taking Inuyasha away from her -for a long time. She dropped the piece of paper, notwanting it anymore, and she wrapped her hands tightly around the branch beneath her. She wondered if there was any way to get down on her own; otherwise, she'd have to wait for Sango, Miroku and Inuyasha to come. In the meantime, she had her fear of heights to deal with.

She stuck out one of her legs, trying to come into contact with a branch on a lower level. There was nothing in front of her that she could reach, but behind her, her shoe bumped into a sturdy branch a foot or so below her. She held onto her current branch very tightly, lowering herself as slow as she could until both her feet were touching the lower branch. Balancing herself as well as she could, she let go of the higher branch, shifting her weight to the lower one. She tipped backwards a little bit, but managed to grab onto the trunk of the tree before she fell over.

Her heart was beating hard in her chest; that was the most frightening thing she had done in a long time. What if she had fallen over? How far away was the ground?

But she forced these thoughts out of her head as she stuck out her leg again, looking for yet another lower branch to fall onto. Again, she found one that wasn't too far away. She did the same thing that she had done before, but this time almost completely lost her balance before she managed to grab onto the trunk.

Wiping the sweat from her forehead, she sat down on the branch, leaning against the trunk of the tree. At least she was making some progress, no matter how slow it had been. Oh, if only Inuyasha was here; he would be able to get her down from the tree in a matter of seconds.

She looked in the direction of the parking lot, hopeful that she would hear the sound of car tires, some kind of reassurance that her friends would come soon; but there was only the sound of birds singing in the distance. It was much too early for anybody else to be in the schoolyard, and even if there -was- another person, there was virtually no chance that they would help her out of this predicament.

So she stuck out her leg again, this time coming into contact with absolutely nothing. She slumped forwards, feeling defeated. There was no way that she could just make a blind jump for another branch; she could get very badly hurt. There was always the possibility of making herself hang down from the branch she was sitting on and try to find a lower level that way; but there wasstill the chance that she'd still find nothing, and she doubted that she would have the strength to pull herself back up.

However, after waiting a full five minutes with her back against the trunk of the tree, shaking out of nervousness, she decided that she had to at least try and get herself out of this mess. She couldn't believe that Kikyou would do such a horrendous thing as bring a blind girl up to the top of a tree. What kind of monster even -thought- of such a plan, let alone carried it out?

But she tried not to think thoughts that would make her angry, as she needed to concentrate as much as possible on the task at hand.

With a death-grip on her current branch, she managed to lower herself slowly under it. As her feet fell away from the branch she completely lost her balance and began to fall; but she hadn't yet let go of the branch above her, so now she was merely hanging from it. She kicked around, trying to find another branch that she could let herself fall onto; she wouldn't be able to hold herself up like this for very long. Luckily, she managed to kick something solid. Her foot aching slightly, she swung herself until she was pretty sure that the branch was below her, and let go of the only thing connecting her to the tree.

Time, as well as her heart, seemed to stop as she hung in midair for a split second, not touching anything save open air; completely separated from the world. But she was only hanging in the air for a split second before her feet hit the branch that she had been aiming for, and she hugged herself tightly to the trunk of the tree, scared out of her mind. What had propelled her to do something so stupid? She could have missed the branch, she could have fallen all the way down to the ground, she could have been -killed-...

A few tears fell down her face as she refused to let go of the tree's trunk, which was thickening now that she wasn't as close to the top. She was still scared out of her mind, and although she was happy with her progress, her body, paralyzed with the prolonged fear, was refusing to let her go any further. So now she was helpless, holding onto the tree for dear life, her eyes squeezed shut more out of reflex than anything, silent tears streaming down her face.

* * *

"My lovely Sango, are you excited about our big night?" Miroku asked teasingly. Sango grumbled and ignored him. Inuyasha had to suppress a chuckle; they had been acting like this for a long time now, Miroku seeming as if he was walking on air, Sango blushing furiously whenever he mentioned the date. Inuyasha got the feeling that she was looking forwards to it, though she absolutely refused to admit it, even to herself. He grinned. He, too, was looking forwards to it; who would miss a chance to see Miroku out on a date with -anyone-, let alone Sango? 

But his urge to laugh stopped just as suddenly as if somebody had put a bullet through his head when they came to the tree that had become their territory. Sango and Miroku stared at him for a moment, not understanding, and then followed his gaze; up into the branches of the tree.

Kagome was still holding onto the branch below her, her knuckles as white as snow. She had a bleeding cut on her knee that she didn't even seem to know existed. She was crying, holding onto the wood as if it was her lifeline. She was at least twenty or thirty feet off the ground; maybe seven feet below the highest branch of the tree.

"Kagome!" Sango shouted, looking up at her best friend. "Inuyasha, can you go help her or something?"

Inuyasha was already beginning his ascent up the tree, easily reaching the branch that Kagome was sitting on. He stood in front of her, balanced on a lower branch, at eye level with the crying girl. She seemed to be in a state of near-panic, not even noticing that he was there.

"Kagome?" Inuyasha asked gently. Her eyes snapped open and she cried out in shock, falling backwards off her branch; Inuyasha caught herarm easily, bringing her back to the branch she had been sitting on, but was unable to actually lift her up. He wasn't balanced enough for that; in all likelihood, if he tried to lift her from her current position, they would both fall. She held on to his wrists as tightly as she could, surprising Inuyasha with her strength. "Kagome, are you alright?" he asked. She shook her head in response.

"Inuyasha, is that you?" she asked, crying harder now for some reason that Inuyasha couldn't understand. "Inuyasha, it was horrible - they knocked me unconscious - and then I was at the top of the tree - and I climbed down here but I almost fell and then I froze and I was just waiting and...and...it was so horrible," she cried, the words falling out in a rush. Anger flared up in Inuyasha.

"Who did this?" he asked, already knowing the answer. "It was Kikyou and her gang, wasn't it?" Kagome could only nod in answer, still refusing to let go of Inuyasha. "Come on, we have to get you down," he said. "Can you slip off the branch?"

Kagome shook her head furiously, letting go of Inuyasha's wrists and instead holding onto her branch. "How high up are we?" she asked. Inuyasha bit his lip, knowing that if he told her, she'd get even more panicky than she already was.

"Kagome, it really doesn't matter, I'm going to get you down from there," he said. "Just slip off the branch, I promise you won't fall."

"How high up are we?" she asked again. "Tell me and then I'll come down."

Inuyasha looked down at the ground, trying to judge how high up he was. "Twenty-five, maybe thirty feet," he answered truthfully. Kagome's face blanched.

"You've got to be kidding me," she said, "How far did I manage to come down?"

"Were you at the very top of the tree?" Inuyasha asked. Kagome nodded, and Inuyasha found himself surprised again. "Well then, I'm proud of you, because you managed to come down six or seven feet." Just like the last time she had tried to climb the tree, Inuyasha was surprised at her bravery. "Okay, now you promised me that you'd come down."

"And you promised that I wouldn't fall," Kagome reminded him.

"Right," Inuyasha answered. "Now, just slip off the branch."

Kagome bit her lip, but loosened her grip slightly on the branch below her. "Where are you?" she asked. "Just keep talking so I know where you are."

"Alright," Inuyasha said. He began to tell Kagome all about Miroku's plans for his date with Sango. "He's going to take her to some restaurant," Inuyasha explained, "and apparently when we're gone, if everything's going well, he might try to kiss her."

Kagome gasped. "He wouldn't!" she said. She was almost ready to slip off the branch hand Inuyasha kept talking, explaining how Miroku's a little nervous, but confident that everything would go fine. He stopped talking when Kagome finally lifted herself off the branch, sliding perfectly towards the branch that Inuyasha was standing on. He held her up as she regained her balance, a huge smile spreading across her face when her feet were on something solid again.

"See? That wasn't so difficult," Inuyasha said. "Now, do you want to make your own way down the tree or should I bring you down?"

"You can just bring me down," Kagome answered, and Inuyasha noticed that she was shaking. "I think I've had enough excitement for one morning."

Back at the bottom of the tree, Miroku and Sango were watching this progression of events with disbelief in their eyes. "She made it all the way down there on her own?" Miroku asked. "I don't think I'd ever do that if I couldn't see where I was going; heck, I might not even do that if I -could- see where I was going."

Sango chuckled. "Yeah, she's one-of-a-kind," she agreed. She began to cheer when Inuyasha finally made it all the way down the tree with a still-shaking Kagome in his arms. She had grabbed fistfuls of his shirt and was refusing to let go, even when Inuyasha told her she was on solid ground.

"I don't believe you," she answered. "You're an evil liar." But it was obvious that she was teasing him. Inuyasha laughed.

"Well, you could just stay in my arms forever, but by the end of time, you'd be pretty dizzy," Inuyasha said, spinning around three times as fast as he could. Kagome shrieked again.

"Okay, okay, put me down now," she said, smiling. Inuyasha complied, setting her down on the grass. She immediately sat down, running her hands through the blades of grass almost disbelievingly.

"Thanks so much for getting me down from there," she said, her voice still quivering from the scare. "You have no idea how freaky it is."

"I can imagine, dear Kagome," Miroku said, sitting down next to the girl. "But I'm sure that with a guardian angel as suitable as Inuyasha, no harm will come to you as long as you live." Kagome laughed a bit. Inuyasha glared at Miroku.

"Come on guys, there are more pressing matters at hand," Sango said. "You two can argue all you want after we get our revenge on Kikyou."

Kagome, Inuyasha and Miroku fell silent as they thought about this. "We -do- need to get our revenge on her, don't we?" Inuyasha asked, pondering the possibilities.

"Inuyasha, you know her better than the rest of us do, seeing as you were a couple for such a long time," Miroku said, almost teasing Inuyasha. The half-demon glared at him. "What's the one thing that she's most afraid of?" he asked.

Inuyasha's ears folded onto his head as he thought about this. Miroku, unable to help himself, burst into laughter at the sight. Inuyasha glared at him.

"What's so funny?" Inuyasha asked, his voice threatening. Miroku continued to giggle helplessly.

"Your...ears..." he managed to choke out, before collapsing with laughter again. Sango rolled her eyes.

"Kagome, the reason Miroku is so utterly beside himself is because Inuyasha's ears are pressed against his scalp," Sango explained. "It is kinda funny, though," she said, grinning.

"I don't get it," Kagome said. "How can his ears be pressed against his scalp?" She scratched at her own ears. "They're on the side of your head, not on top of it."

Sango and Miroku stopped laughing, staring at Kagome. "You mean you never knew?" Miroku asked. Kagome looked in his direction with a confused look on her face.

"Never knew what?" she asked. Inuyasha gawked.

"I'm a half-dog-demon," he explained.

"I know that," Kagome answered. "What does that have to do with your ears?"

Inuyasha mumbled an answer incoherently under his breath. Kagome cupped her hand around her own ear, trying to hear what he was saying. "Sorry, what was that?" she asked, smiling. "I didn't quite catch what you said."

"I have dog ears," Inuyasha said, a little louder. Kagome's eyes widened in shock, and she immediately stood up and ran behind Inuyasha, kneeling down and combing her fingers through his hair. Inuyasha tensed up in shock. "What on earth are you doing?" he asked, looking over his shoulder at the girl. She was beaming.

"Where are they?" she asked. Inuyasha rolled his eyes as Sango walked over to Kagome, guiding her hand over to the fluffy white dog ears that stood on top of Inuyasha's head. Once Sango had helped Kagome find them, she sat back down next to Miroku.

Kagome squealed in delight, scratching happily at the dog ears. Inuyasha glared at Sango for only a moment before he couldn't help but give into the pleasure of having his ears rubbed. Kagome giggled as Inuyasha began to purr faintly.

"Why didn't you -tell- me you have dog ears?" she asked, obvious delight in her voice. "Omigosh, they're so cute!" Inuyasha hated himself for being utterly helpless. It just felt so good...

Miroku fell over laughing, and even Sango was chuckling as Inuyasha's eyes closed halfway and he leaned into Kagome's touch.

"Why didn't we tell her about this sooner?" Miroku asked, between fits of laughter. "I can't believe that we prolonged this entertainment for so long..."

Eventually Inuyasha grew tired of the jokes being made at his expense. "Oh, shut up," he said half-heartedly. Kagome stopped rubbing his ears, and Inuyasha mentally kicked herself for wanting her to start again. "I don't understand why you guys find that so funny."

Kagome rubbed her hands together in delight. "Okay, that's it. I'm going to have to remember those ears, but for now, I think we should get back to Kikyou." The very thought of the heartless girl sent shivers through Kagome.

"I'll think about the best thing we can do to get back at her," Inuyasha said. Kagome smiled. "But for now, we should probably be getting ready for class."

Sango looked down at her watch. "Crap, he's right," she exclaimed. "We're going to be late. Come on, come on! See you guys at lunch," she said, smiling at Inuyasha, Kagome and Miroku before running off. Miroku followed her, leaving Inuyasha with Kagome.

"I honestly can't believe that you didn't tell me about those ears of yours," Kagome said, delight in her voice. Inuyasha groaned, took Kagome's hand, and led her into the school.

**Author's Note: Oooh, that chapter was fun to write. And I know that you're all just dying to see Kikyou get her just desserts! If you have any suggestions for what "The Four" (tee hee hee)should do to her, tell me in a review! Who knows, maybe I'll find one (or two, or three) that I like:D**

**Let's see if we can hit 100 reviews after this chapter! i:hugs everyone:**


	7. Chapter 6: Preparations

**Author's Note: We did it! 100 reviews! In fact, we got 105 reviews! asterix jumps around, celebrating asterix**

**You guys are amazing. In just 3 days this story is already a fav of over 40 people.**

**Thanks so much! Here's the next chapter as thanks for all your comments, praise and suggestions!asterix is very happy asterix**

**Chapter 6: **_Preparations_

The rest of Wednesday and Thursday passed uneventfully. Inuyasha was taking his own sweet time thinking of a way to get revenge on Kikyou. Kagome had memorized the location of Inuyasha's dog ears and poked them happily whenever she got the chance, knowing that Inuyasha glared at her without needing to see it. Inuyasha noticed that Kagome had taken to holding his hand a little tighter whenever she heard Kikyou and her posse pass her by.

In science class, they had finished their review and were going to be starting their new unit; Astronomy. At the mention of the telescopes they would be using, Inuyasha could detect a small amount of fear rising from Kagome, but it passed quickly.

Miroku, surprisingly, had stopped groping at Sango, as if preparing himself mentally for what he kept referring to as his 'Saturday in heaven'. Sango had also stopped slapping him, saying, "I'm going to give my arm a break so it'll be all good and refreshed for our 'date'." When Kagome had heard this she had laughed so hard that everybody in the vicinity had stared at her. Inuyasha had given them the finger.

Friday's lunchtime had been exceptionally boring for Inuyasha and Miroku; Kagome and Sango did nothing but chat on and on about the shopping they were going to do, the outfits they thought they should wear, with Sango putting in comments about colours and complimenting skin tones. Inuyasha rolled his eyes and looked at Miroku.

"Why are they making such a big fuss about this?" he asked. Miroku shrugged.

"I'm shocked that any human being could talk for so long without their jaw falling off," he said. "Lunchtime is almost over and that's all they've been doing."

Inuyasha shrugged and lay down on his back, watching the clouds go by. He was wondering why the idea of using telescopes had bothered Kagome so much. After that class, she had fallen oddly silent for the rest of the day, leaving quickly. She had seemed really distracted.

Inuyasha shrugged it off. _I'll ask her later,_ he told himself. _After the first half of the date, when Sango and Miroku won't be there. _He snickered to himself. _They said the restaurant was near a lake..._

He was knocked out of his reverie when Sango punched him in the chest. "What?" he asked, glaring at her and sitting up. Sango pointed to her watch. It was five minutes to class. "Oh, thanks," Inuyasha said quietly.

"No problem. Try to stay awake," she said. She said a cheery 'goodbye' to Kagome before she and Miroku headed off to their classes. Inuyasha led Kagome back to her locker, leaving her there while he got his stuff, and coming back quickly as always. And, as always, she was waiting for him.

"How can you talk so much?" he asked her, as he led her to their next class. Kagome laughed, poking Inuyasha's dog ears and beaming.

"There's so much to talk about," she said. "Oh, the possibilities..." Her eyes glazed over with happiness as she tried imagined all the sounds and smells of the restaurant, and how nice it would be to stand in front of the lake, maybe with a cool breeze playing with her hair, Inuyasha standing next to her. She shook herself suddenly out of this dream, shocked at herself. _How did he end up there?_ she asked herself, biting her lip. _There's no way..._

The rest of the day seemed to pass extremely slowly. Kagome found it exceptionally difficult to sit still and pay attention as she thought of a thousand different ways the date could go; good and bad. She liked the good ones better. She thought of how she would soon be walking through the mall with Sango, and smiled widely; it would be -so much fun-.

Inuyasha rolled his eyes at her obvious delight at the thought of going clothes shopping. He had no idea why girls liked it so much. To him, clothes shopping consisted of walking into a store, choosing stuff that looked o.k. and seemed to fit, paying for them and walking out. It never took more than fifteen minutes. But girls? They could spend forever in a single store, buy only one shirt, and then go to the store right next door and repeat everything they had done in the first one. It made no sense.

Eventually the day came to a close. Kagome practically bounced all the way to her locker, unconsciously pulling on Inuyasha's hand, making him go faster. He rolled his eyes againas he tuned out her constant babble about how much fun it was going to be, how many shops she and Sango were going to visit, and all the plans she had.

"Okay, I'm just going to go get my stuff, so don't explode with happiness before I get back to watch the spectacle, okay?" he remarked sarcastically. Kagome beamed, poking his dog-ears before waving good-bye and opening her locker. Inuyasha rolled his eyes - he seemed to be doing that a lot lately -and went to get his stuff together.

The hallway where his locker stood was always busy with people. Usually people gave his locker a wide berth, not wanting to come any closer than was necessary to anything that belonged to one of "The Four". But today, Arik was standing in front of it, surrounded by a ring of fawning girls.

"What do you think you're doing?" Inuyasha asked, placing his hands on his hips and glaring at the boy who he used to call his best friend. Arik smiled evilly.

"Just waiting for you to come back," he said. "We need to talk."

Inuyasha bared his fangs. "Get away from my locker, Mr. Cool." Arik laughed.

"Oh, let's not get all angry with each other," he said, waving off the girls that were surrounding him. "Let me alone for a bit," he almost snarled at them, and they slinked away, looking hurt. Arik turned back to Inuyasha. "How are you enjoying life as an outcast?" he asked sarcastically.

"It's actually not that bad," Inuyasha replied, smiling and showing his fangs again. "I would offer for you to try it, but I don't want you coming anywhere near my friends."

"And trust me, I don't want to have anything to do with them," Arik retorted. "Actually, I wanted to make you an offer."

Inuyasha raised an eyebrow. "I don't need any of your help."

"I know, and trust me, even if you did I wouldn't give it to you," Arik answered. "But recently Kikyou did something to me that was not very nice at all, and I was wondering if you could possibly use the services of a popular guy to help get back at her."

Inuyasha tapped a clawed fingernail against his chin, pondering this. "What's the catch?" he asked. Arik laughed.

"No catch. Trust me. I don't want to have anything to do with you, but think of it this way; you're the evil mastermind, and I'm the well-connected tool."

This definitely caught Inuyasha's attention. It was true, with a popular person on their side, there were many more options as to what they could reasonably pull off. Arik could get close to Kikyou without arousing any suspicion. But Inuyasha knew that he couldn't trust Arik, so he decided to be careful about it.

"I'll keep it in mind," Inuyasha answered. "Don't take that as a yes."

"And don't take my offer as one of friendship," Arik replied, smiling sarcastically. "Merely one of joint revenge."

And with that, he walked off, leaving Inuyasha alone with his locker and his thoughts, wondering what Kikyou had done to Arik to make him so desperate as to ask an outcast for help.

When Inuyasha had finally gotten all his stuff together and made his way back to Kagome's locker, he found that she wasn't there anymore. In her place was a note, obviously written by Sango. It read:

_Hey, Mr. Ears. Kagome and I got tired of waiting for you. You're too slow. We'll see you tomorrow at the restaurant._

_-Sango_

_P.S. Kagome says bye, and that you should imagine she rubbed your dog-ears because apparently she thinks they're cute. Pathetic, isn't it?_

And that was all. Inuyasha smiled, re-reading the note a few times. Leave it to Sango to make such comments. A fly landed on his ear and he scratched at it, making the fly buzz quickly away.

_Girls,_ he thought to himself. _No patience whatsoever.

* * *

_

Sango and Kagome walked into the mall, Sango describing everything that she saw with as much detail as she could manage to Kagome.

"Okay, well, the building has only one story; the ceiling's pretty high though, and has these metal beams reaching across it, offering support and looking nice. They have ribbons and stuff hanging from them. Umm...the floor's white tile, and the walls are white paint. The whole mall is arranged in a kind of cross pattern, with the middle place where all the hallways connect being a lounge of sorts. It's really cool, it has a fountain and everything. Umm...well, there's plants everywhere and the whole place looks nice and bright and everything. Oh, here's the first store," Sango said, pulling Kagome off to the left, walking into a brightly lit store with an interesting window display. Sango and Kagome only spent about fifteen minutes in there, and it was more for fun than anything else; the whole place was ridiculously overpriced.

They walked into the store that was right next to the overpriced one, Sango helping Kagome look through the racks of clothing. "That one's nice," she'd say every so often, describing the colour and pattern. After Kagome's arm was getting heavy with at least five different shirts and skirts to go with them, Sango led her to the changerooms.

Kagome changed surprisingly quickly considering the fact that she couldn't see what she was doing. Sango, who had taken up a seat outside of the room that Kagome was in, smiled when Kagome came out wearing a tight, pale-green shirt with a black floral design along the sides and a V-neck, with a plain black skirt that reached down to the girl's knees.

"It looks good, but a little too green for my liking," Sango said. "Though it goes well with your hair."

Kagome rolled her eyes and went back into the changeroom, this time coming out with a baby blue spaghetti strap shirt with a loose denim jacket over it, and a denim skirt.

"Oh, no," Sango said. "Too casual." Kagome shrugged.

They went through three more outfits that way before Kagome ran out of clothes. "That's it for me," she said. "Did you see anything in here that you liked?" she asked, indicating the rest of the store.

"Nah, I'm good," Sango answered. "Come on, let's keep moving." She led Kagome out of that store and into the next one.

They went through three more stores like that, each of them trying on various outfits, Sango telling Kagome what she looked like in each of them so that the girl knew what she was wearing. Finally, in the fifth store, Sango found something that she liked on Kagome.

It was one of those longer, tunic-like shirts. It was black and hip-hugging, bringing out Kagome's figure. The shirt went down to just above her thighs, tightened around the waist by a black loop of fabric with a square buckle the exact same colour as Kagome's eyes. She had a pair of black silk pants that went well with the shirt, and black high heels that complimented the whole outfit very well. Sango clapped her hands together in delight upon seeing Kagome in the outfit, and described it to her.

"It's perfect!" she exclaimed. "Oh, we have to get you that one." Kagome ran her hands over the tight, silky material, smiling at how it felt. "The only thing that we need to do is straighten your hair, and maybe get you a necklace; oh, I have one that would look perfect with that outfit!" Kagome laughed, retreating back into the changeroom.

When she came out, Sango went with her to the cash register and helped her count out the money for the outfit. After all was done and Kagome had the shirt and pants in a bag and the shoes in a box, she turned to Sango.

"Okay, now it's your turn," Kagome said, grinning somewhat evilly. Sango laughed.

"Don't worry, I saw a store with the outfit I want already," Sango said, smiling. Kagome laughed and let Sango pull her over to the store. The blind girl waitedin a soft, cushiony chairwhile Sango pulled the dress she wanted off the rack and disappeared into the changeroom.

"I know you have a crush on him," Kagome called through the door. She smiled when she heard Sango stop moving, and could imagine her best friend glaring at the wooden door separating them.

"I do -not- have a crush on him," Sango replied. "Unlike you and Mr. Ears."

Kagome felt the blood rush to her face and knew she was blushing. "Oh, come on, you know I'm not going on a date with him," she said, "Unlike you and Mr. Hands."

Sango laughed despite herself and walked out of the changeroom. Kagome tilted her head towards Sango. "Well, what does it look like?"

Sango looked at herself in the full-length mirror. "It's a dress with the skirt cut off at a bit of an angle, one side ending just above my knee and the other side ending midway between my knee and the ground," she described, earning herself some odd looks from the other patrons of the store. "It's dark blue, but on the side where the skirt is longer, there's a kind of closed slit thing - you know, where they have the main fabric cut up to the waist but instead of leaving the hole there, they sew in other fabric of a different colour so it's like a triangle...it's kind of difficult to explain," Sango said. "Anyways, that other fabric is a lighter shade of blue. The dress is cut like a tank top, unlike your tunic shirt which had long sleeves. It would probably look good with that sapphire necklace I have kicking around somewhere...and I have shoes for it too..." she mused, before turning away from her reflection and sitting next to Kagome.

"What makes you think I like him?" Sango asked, her face flushing even at the thought of her having a crush on Miroku. Kagome smiled.

"There's just something in your voice when you talk to him, or about him," Kagome explained. "Besides, whenever I ask you about it you get all defensive, and that's a dead giveaway."

Sango gave a slight "humph" and walked back into the changeroom, changing back into her normal clothes and bringing the dress to the cash register. Kagome walked over to her, careful not to walk into any clothing racks.

"I'm sure it looks perfect," Kagome said, smiling. Sango laughed.

"And trust me, yours -does- look perfect," Sango said. "You just need to come over to my house tomorrow morning so I can do your hair and makeup, and find you that necklace."

Kagome rolled her eyes. "You are so much more of a girly-girl than you let on," she said, teasingly. Sango punched her lightly in the shoulder.

"Well, we have to make you look nice for your Inuyasha, now don't we?" she asked, laughing at the blush that immediately returned to Kagome's face. "Come on, let's go."

* * *

Inuyasha was at Miroku's house, scowling at him. "You've got to be kidding me," the hanyou muttered.

"No, I'm not kidding you," Miroku said, holding out two different ties. One of them was blue with black stripes, the other one was black with blue dots. "Which one?"

Inuyasha shook his head at Miroku. "I'm really not the kind of guy to turn to for fashion advice," he said, "but if I -had- to choose either one of them I'd go with the stripes." Miroku smiled widely.

"Okay. Great. Now, what are you going to do about clothing? I doubt you have anything...appropriate," Miroku said. Inuyasha rolled his eyes and mumbled something under his breath.

"What's that? I couldn't hear you," Miroku said, cupping his hand over his ear in much the same fashion that Kagome had done a while back. "Could you repeat that a little louder?"

Inuyasha mumbled again.

"Come on, you can do better -"

"My foster mother already picked out something for me to wear!" Inuyasha practically shouted at Miroku. "Jeez, one would think you're deaf or something. And I thought Kagome was the only impaired one in our group."

Miroku gawked at Inuyasha. "You told your -mother- that you were going on a group date?" he asked, his voice full of shock.

"My -foster- mother," Inuyasha corrected. "And no, I didn't. She kind of guessed it on her own."

"Mothers have a way of knowing things," Miroku musingly agreed. "My mother guessed it, too. I think it was when I came into the house singing at the top of my lungs, grabbing some food, giving her a hug and disappearing into my bedroom," he said. Inuyasha rolled his eyes.

"Well, Mr. Sunshine, are you going to go with the stripes or the other one?"

"The stripes. Thank you for your valuable input."

"Yeah, right."

* * *

It was Saturday morning, and Inuyasha's alarm clock rudely woke him up at 8:30 in the morning. He groggily opened one eye, glaring at the digital numbers, then picked up the alarm clock and threw it at the wall. It stopped ringing.

"I swear, Inuyasha, you're going to pay for the next alarm clock we have to buy you!" his foster mother shouted up the stairs. "Now come down here and eat some breakfast." Ever since his foster mother had found out about the date (despite his protests that it wasn't -his- date, it was his friend's date) she had been bustling about, trying to make everything perfect. Inuyasha sighed. Ah, well, at least she was a good foster mother.

He walked down the stairs and sat down at the table, giving his 'mother' a weak smile. "But why 8:30?" he complained. His mother clucked her tongue.

"I get the feeling that you care a lot more about this date then you're telling me, so you should be thanking me," she said, waving a spoon at Inuyasha. "And don't ask me how I know. I just know."

Inuyasha stared at her. It was unfair that she knew so much about him!"How do you know?" he asked, ignoring her request.

"Mother's intuition," she said, tapping the side of her head. "We have our ways."

"Sounds like some kind of demon thing," Inuyasha muttered. His mother sighed, going back to her cooking.

* * *

"Kagome, sit -still-!" Sango exclaimed. By 9 o'clock Kagome was already over at Sango's house, trying not to move too much while Sango patiently straightened her hair. Finally satisfied with her work, Sango put down her tools-of-the-trade and smiled at the result of her handiwork.

"Another job well done," she complimented herself, and Kagome laughed. "Okay, now we just have to find those necklaces..."

"It's so -early-," Kagome complained. "He's not even picking us up until 5:00!"

"Yeah, well, better safe than sorry," Sango said. Kagome grinned.

"You -are- nervous about this," she said. "Come on, admit it, you like him just a little, teensy-weensy bit."

"I'll never admit it," Sango said, smiling. Kagome gasped.

"You just admitted it!" she screamed, pointing an accusing finger in Sango's direction. "You just admitted that you have something not to admit!"

"That doesn't even make sense!" Sango exclaimed, throwing a pillow at Kagome, who almost fell over laughing.

* * *

Miroku paced his bedroom, going over everything in his head. The four of them would be together for the first half of the date, and then for the second half Inuyasha and Kagome would leave the restaurant and he would be alone with Sango. He bit on his fingers, reminding himself that he had to behave. The whole arrangement sounded perfect; Inuyasha would be more than willing to leave, and Miroku had the feeling that he would be happy having Kagome with him.

Yes, it was all perfect.

Now he just had to wait.

**Author's Note: Hey everyone! Sorry if that chapter was a little boring, I just felt that the 'big date' needed a little bit of introduction, so here we are. For all you people that have been dying for Inuyasha and Kagome to start falling for each other, be happy:D And if you have any suggestions for the date, do tell me them! In a review! Don't worry, I should have the date chapter up later on today.**

**Leave reviews! I am review-greedy. . Next up: THE DATE! asterix evil laughter asterix**


	8. Chapter 7: The Big Night

**Author's Note: I -told- you I'd get another chapter up later on today! But don't expect another one until tomorrow, I'm busy for the rest of the day today. .**

**Enjoy!**

**Chapter 7: **_The Big Night_

Sango was pacing her bedroom, every five seconds or so looking up at the analog clock that hung on her wall. Kagome sighed and shook her head, sitting on Sango's beg, swinging her black-shoed feet back and forth as she waited.

"You're still looking at that accursed clock, aren't you?" she asked.

"It's 4:57," Sango replied. "I swear he's doing this just to torment me."

"Calm down, will you?" Kagome said, rubbing her eyes. "You're making my head hurt. He said he'd be here at 5:00. You've still got three minutes, and you're going to burn a hole in that clock if you glare at it one more time."

Sango sighed and shook her head, fiddling with the necklace she was wearing; a silver chain with a spherical polished sapphire hanging down the middle. She smiled; it had taken her forever to find, but it was worth it. She looked up one more time at the clock.

"I -told- you not to glare at it," Kagome said. Sango whirled around and stared at her, shocked.

"How did you know I-" Sango said, but Kagome's laughter cut her off.

"You can't go ten seconds without looking at it," Kagome said, giggling. "I counted ten seconds and then told you not to glare at it." She beamed. "It worked, didn't it?"

Sango grumbled and turned back to the clock. 4:58. Just two more minutes and then she could pound Miroku for being late.

"Sango, dear, there's a car coming," Sango's mother called from downstairs. Sango grabbed Kagome's hand and practically flew down the stairs, arriving in front of the door and looking out of the eyehole to see Miroku just getting out of his car. From what Sango could tell, he was wearing a suit. She related this information to Kagome.

"He's trying to make a good impression," she commented. "Does the tie have stripes, dots, or is it solid colour?"

"Stripes," Sango answered, still watching Miroku approach. "Black and blue stripes." Kagome nodded, smiling. The doorbell rang and Sango nearly jumped out of her skin, forgetting that Miroku didn't know that she was waiting for him right in front of the door. She opened it hastily, looking at Miroku, a blush creeping into her face as Miroku's eyes looked her over, head to toe.

"You look as beautiful as a goddess from the heavens, my dearest Sango," Miroku commented. The blush grew stronger and Sango grabbed Kagome's hand; whether for her own support or Kagome's, Miroku wasn't sure. As soon as Kagome came into sight, he clapped his hands together. "Ah, and I see that the lovely Sango not only has taste in her own outfits, but in other people's as well," he said. "You look lovely, Kagome."

"Thank you," Kagome replied smoothly, not flustered at all. "And Sango thanks you for your compliments in her direction as well." Sango glared at her.

"Yeah...erm...thanks," she said weakly. "You look...nice...too."

Miroku beamed, holding out his arm. "Shall I take you to the car?" he asked. Sango looked up at him, her eyes only shining with nervousness for a moment before her ego took over and she confidently took a hold of Miroku's arm.

"Why not?" she asked, defiantly. Kagome had to bite back a giggle as she held on to Sango's other arm, following her to the car. It was a beautiful evening, she could tell; she could still feel the warmth of the sun on her face, but there was a nice breeze in the air that was absolutely perfect. Kagome smiled to herself as she imagined what the lake would look like later on in the evening, the moon rising above its perfect glass surface, the sound of frogs and crickets in the air.

BeforeKagome had fully comprehended what was going on,Sango was opening the car door for her and helping her into the back seat before taking her own seat in the front, sitting next to Miroku, who was driving. Kagome put on her seatbelt, smoothed down her outfit more out of reflex than anything, and smiled.

"So, who's here and what do they look like?" she asked. Inuyasha, who was sitting beside her, chuckled a bit.

"Well, the whole gang's here," he answered. "Sango is wearing a lovely blue dress; but I'm sure she already described it to you in astounding detail." Kagome nodded in response. "Well, Miroku's wearing a black suit with a pale blue shirt underneath."

"And a blue and black striped tie?" Kagome supplied. Inuyasha stared at her.

"...yeah," he said. "Sango must have told you that."

"Yeah, she did," Kagome replied happily.

"Anyways," Inuyasha said. "I'm wearing...clothes," he said dumbly, not willing to describe the outfit that his foster mother had bought for him.

"Well, that's good to hear," Kagome said, smiling. "I'd be frightened if you weren't." Sango and Miroku laughed and Inuyasha glared at them.

"The oh-so-handsome Inuyasha is wearing a lovely combination of collared shirt and fancy pants," Miroku said, while he was driving, not needing to look back at his friend because he had teased him so much about his outfit. "The collared shirt is grey, complimenting his silver-white hair wonderfully, with black buttons, which go well with his pants, which are plain but not casual. He has a simple gold chain around his neck that goes well with his eyes, if I do say so myself."

"Why do you pay so much attention to what I look like?" Inuyasha grumbled. "Pervert."

"Hey, I don't swing that way," Miroku answered, flashing a grin at Sango.

They continued their chatter throughout the ten minutes that it took them to drive up to the restaurant, which was called _"Guillaume's Gourmet"._ When they got there, Miroku opened the door for Sango, who blushed and said, "Thanks." Inuyasha did the same for Kagome, but more out of necessity than from actually knowing anything about gentlemanly etiquette. Kagome smiled as Inuyasha took her hand and led her up to the restaurant, forming a mental picture of what the four of them must look like.

"Wow, what a nice-looking place," Sango said, somewhat stunned as she looked around. "Kagome, it has booth seats, but they look really comfortable and the tables are polished mahogany. Everything looks so...classy," she said.

"It even -smells- classy," Kagome muttered. "Let me guess; candles in the walls, traditional chandeliers, and we're the only teenagers in the whole building?"

"That pretty much sums it up," Sango agreed. They stood at a lectern of sorts, waiting for someone to come and seat them.

Someone came up to them after they had been waiting there for five seconds or so. The man was wearing a black suit, white shirt and black tie, and looked for all the world like someone out of a movie. "Party of four?" he asked them, his voice kind, with a slight French accent.

"Yes," Miroku answered. "Non-smoking."

"Of course, monsieur," the man answered. "Right this way." He swept out his arm and began to walk towards an empty booth table, one that was right underneath a candle bracket. Quite a romantic spot.

"What would you have to drink?" the man asked once they were all settled in the seat, Sango sitting across from Miroku, with Kagome next to her, across from Inuyasha.

"Do you have green tea?" Miroku asked. The man nodded. "I'll have that, then."

"And for you?" the man asked, looking at Sango. She paused, thinking.

"Green tea for me as well, please," she answered, after a few moments of silence.

The man made a few mental notes before turning to look at Inuyasha. "Root beer," he answered, roughly. He had never been in a fancy restaurant before, and was rather unaccustomed to the rules of etiquette. The server scowled at him faintly before turning to Kagome.

"And for you, madame?" he asked. Kagome grinned.

"Just ice water would be fine, thanks," she said. The server nodded and left, but not before handing them the menus. Kagome poked at hers.

"They really should make these things in Braille," she said. Sango chuckled.

"I guess they're just not used to having blind patrons," she said.

The four of them discussed the meals on the menu, alternately telling Kagome the various things that there were so she could choose as well. After a few minutes the server came back with their drinks and left again, seeing that they were not yet ready to order. A few more minutes after that, he came back again, and this time they were ready. Sango had a plate of penne, a kind of pasta. Miroku had crêpes, a traditional French food similar to pancakes, except more fancy. Inuyasha had a large steak, cooked rare, and Kagome had a salad. The server took mental notes for all of their orders and disappeared once again.

"So, my lovely Sango, how are you enjoying this date so far?" Miroku asked, interlacing his fingers and resting his chin on them. "I must say again, you look stunning."

Sango blushed again. "Well, it's not like there's anything not to like about this place," she said, looking around. "You have good taste."

Miroku beamed. "I knew you'd like it."

They chatted happily for five or ten minutes about all kinds of things until their food came,and thenthe topic of discussion shifted to the quality of the meals, the service, and 'oh, this is so good, would you like a bite?'.

After they had been sitting in peace for a while, Sango's face darkened. "I can't believe that idiot Kikyou."

Miroku sighed. "Must we talk about something so dark on such a lovely evening?" he asked. "Really?"

"Well, there's one important thing that I think should be said before we go back to our happy lives," Inuyasha said. He then described Arik's offer.

"That's exactly what we need!" Kagome said. "Look, I always thought it was a bad idea to take our own revenge on Kikyou; she'd know it was us in a second, and then she'd just do something worse to us, and it would be a most vicious cycle. But if we could help Arik get revenge on Kikyou..."

"Then she wouldn't blame us, but we would have our vengeance," Sango finished, musing. "Yes, that sounds like a good idea. I doubt a buffoon like Arik could think of anything good to do, anyways."

Inuyasha grinned evilly. "You know what? I have the perfect plan. And only Arik could pull it off."

"Do tell, do tell," Miroku said, interested now.

"Well, since Arik is officially the coolest guy in all of Cameron Drake, then everybody would do anything he said, right?" Sango, Miroku and Kagome nodded in agreement. "If Arik got everybody in the school to not listen to her for a full day - that is to say, treating her as if she was one of -us-, I think that she would hardly be able to bear it."

"How would Arik get every single person in the school to do that?" Sango asked. "He may be popular, but even if he could get most people to follow him, Kikyou's posse would never agree."

"Actually, you'd be surprised," Inuyasha said. "Really, all those girls are just dying for the day that Kikyou leaves the school and they can take her place. If Arik managed to convince all of them that this would scare Kikyou out of the school, or make a huge mistake and hence lose all her status..."

There was silence as the four of them thought this over. "But would it work?" Kagome asked. Miroku grinned.

"It's worth a try," he said. "And plus, she'd never be able to suspect us; there's no way that we could get the whole school to listen to us."

The whole group agreed with this plan and smiled with happiness. With that settled, the conversation turned back to school; in particular, their Astronomy unit.

"Are we going to have to come to the school at nighttime?" Sango asked. "I mean, when else are we going to be able to use those telescopes?"

"I kind of like the new unit," Miroku said. "I've always found the stars fascinating." His eyes glazed over as he dropped into some kind of inner fantasy that somehow related to stargazing, no doubt involving grabbing some woman's behind. Sango shook her head, rolling her eyes at her 'date'.

Inuyasha and Sango continued to chat while Miroku daydreamed and Kagome sat, quiet. After a minute or so Sango and Inuyasha both noticed her unusual silence. "Something wrong?" Sango asked, looking at her friend with concern in her eyes. Kagome smiled.

"Nothing," she said. "Just thinking about Kikyou." Sango accepted this answer but Inuyasha thought that there was something else in her voice that didn't quite fit. He, however, shrugged it off; he'd get Kagome to talk about it when they were on their own, apart from Sango and Miroku.

Sango looked at her watch. "Holy crap! It's 5:45 already!" she exclaimed, then realized the connotations of that. "Oh, no...Kagome, don't leave me..." she said, hugging her friend. Miroku seemed to wake up, noticing his surroundings.

"Oh, Sango, do you hate me that much?" he asked, putting heavy layers of sadness into his voice so that he sounded more funny than anything else.

"I don't hate you, I just like Kagome too," Sango replied, looking a little ashamed. "Ah, well. Inuyasha, Kagome, we'll see you by the car at 6:30-ish?"

"Of course," Inuyasha replied, sliding out of the booth seat and taking Kagome's hand when she had gotten out of hers. "Later," he said.

"Have fun!" Kagome said, giggling a bit. She then let Inuyasha lead her out of the restaurant and into the open air. It was getting closer to evening; the sky was getting darker, not quite the clear blue that it had been throughout the day. There were now tints of lavender in its vast expanse.

"So, what do you want to do until they're done?" Kagome asked, smiling.

"I don't know," Inuyasha answered. "Want to go to the lake? It'll probably sound nice and peaceful, if anything."

"That sounds great," Kagome answered, smiling widely as Inuyasha leaded her slowly towards the water. As they approached she could hear the soothing sound of waves breaking against the sand, the water rolling in on top of itself and then receding back into the depths that it had come from. She could hear some birds singing from far-off trees, and the breeze against her face felt really good.

_Just like I imagined it,_ she thought to herself, smiling.

There were wooden benches set up along the grass, looking out over the water and the trees that lined each side of it. Inuyasha led her over to one of these and they both sat down in comfortable silence as Inuyasha enjoyed the view and Kagome enjoyed the sounds.

"It's beautiful," Inuyasha said, feeling unusually cheery. "I wish you could see it."

Kagome smiled. "So do I, but after five years of waiting, I'm ready to just enjoy how it sounds."

"Five years?" Inuyasha asked. "What do you mean?"

Kagome looked at him. "What, you thought I was born like this?"

"Yes," Inuyasha answered. Kagome laughed a bit.

"No, not even close," she corrected. "Five years ago. It was an accident. All the doctors that looked at me said that my sight would come back soon, within two years of it happening. They said that my eyes just needed to heal a few things and then I'd be fine."

"Well, they're obviously liars," Inuyasha retorted. Kagome laughed again.

"It's really not that bad," she said. "When you're not all caught up about the way things look, you can focus on more important things. For example, if I had seen you before I got to know you, I might have been scared out of my mind. But you're not scary at all," she teased, absently poking his ears.

"Not scary at all, eh?" Inuyasha asked. "We'll have to see about that." He poked Kagome in the side, careful not to hurt her with his claws. Apparently her bruises had all healed by now, so that wasn't a problem.

"Hey!" she replied, poking Inuyasha in the side as payback. "No fair, I can't see you."

"How did it happen?" Inuyasha asked, poking her in the shoulder this time. She pushed him and he almost fell off the bench, not expecting that at all.

"Not important," she answered, laughing as Inuyasha pushed her back. She held onto his hand so that she wouldn't fall over.

"Yes it is," Inuyasha said. "Hey!" he exclaimed as Kagome tugged on a strand of his hair. "Okay, that's it," he said, picking Kagome up from her seat on the bench and carrying her over to the lake. Kagome was confused for a moment before she realized that the sound of the waves was getting louder; then she began to twist around in Inuyasha's grip, but to no avail. Inuyasha reached the water and set her down on the sand where the waves hit, keeping her still and waiting for the next one to come.

Kagome heard the wave of water approaching and tried to twist out of Inuyasha's grip, but couldn't move; the icy cold water washed over her ankles. She inwardly thanked the store that she had bought the shoes from for having the place of mind to make the shoes waterproof.

"Ack!" she exclaimed as the water washed away. "Let me go!" she commanded happily, laughing as Inuyasha sang the Jaws theme. She heard the next wave coming. "Oh, come on, this isn't fair," she said, squealing as the freezing cold water washed over her feet again.

"Tell me what happened to make you blind!" Inuyasha said again as that wave receded and the next one closed in. This time Kagome simply raised her feet from the ground, knowing that Inuyasha was strong enough to just hold her up in the air. As she hung in midair the wave rolled under her feet and instead soaked Inuyasha's.

"Hey!" he cried, jumping backwards and letting go of Kagome. She ranaway from him, towards the bench, away from the water. He watched her go, smiling as she slowed down upon approaching the bench and began to feel around for it. "Ms. Clever-I-can-avoid-waves is running away, is she?" he called back, but let her sit back down on the bench and fix her wet shoes. He sat next to her.

"That was fun," he said, grinning widely. Kagome poked him again.

"That water was like ice!" she exclaimed. "You're evil."

"And you like keeping secrets from people," Inuyasha retorted. "That's evil too."

Kagome sighed, looking back at the water. "You really want to know what happened?" she asked, her voice suddenly sad. Inuyasha softened.

"Yeah, but if you don't want to tell me, it's okay," he said, feeling a bit of pity for her, even though he had no idea what bothered her so much.

"Five years ago," she began, "I was going to a public school, that was actually a lot like this one. You know, with cool people and outcasts and all that jazz." She took a breath. "I was neither; I was nice to everybody, the popular people, the outcasts, everybody. It made me completely alienated, but I had one friend who stayed with me, and that was good enough for me. I was happy enough; at least I didn't have any enemies, or so I thought.

"One day we had a substitute teacher. Of course, none of the kids were paying attention to her. We were building the telescopes that we would be taking home with us; they had been a gift to the school. You know how, on every page of the instruction manuals, they say 'Do Not Use The Telescope During The Day'?"

"Yeah," Inuyasha said, thinking back to science class. "But they never say why."

"Exactly," Kagome said, looking down. "The popular girls - their leader, her name was Marianne - they wanted to find out. I don't remember exactly how it happened, but one moment I was looking at my finished telescope, feeling proud of my work, and the next there were hands on the back of my head pressing my eyes to the double-eyepiece of the telescope."

Inuyasha winced. "They didn't," he said, shocked. "They couldn't have done that!"

"They did," Kagome said, her voice cracking a bit as the tears rushed to her eyes. "The last thing I saw was the Sun, glaring at me from the other end of the telescope. It took a few days for the sunspots to fade, but when they did, I was surrounded in darkness. And it never went away."

There was a long silence, broken only by some muffled sobs from Kagome. Feeling bad for her, Inuyasha put his arm around her shoulders, trying to offer some comfort. She leaned into him, still crying softly.

"It's okay," he muttered. "I'm sorry."

"No, don't be sorry," Kagome answered. "You had to find out eventually."

"So that's why you don't like popular people?" Inuyasha asked. "That's why you don't care about popularity?"

"I never cared about popularity," Kagome said. "But it's the reason I don't like popular people."

"That's horrible," Inuyasha said, shocked. How could anyone in their right mind do something so utterly stupid? Five years ago Kagome would have been what, eleven, twelve years old? It was old enough to have some degree of common sense. He felt a small twinge of guilt at the knowledge that he had once been a person like that, someone who enjoyed inflicting pain on other people that were "lower-class".

"On a completely different note, your outfit looks really nice," Inuyasha said weakly, trying to make Kagome feel better. She hugged him, which surprised him a lot.

"Thanks," she said,smiling a bit. "I'm sure yours does too." She bit her lip. "I just wish I could see it."

**Author's Note: Okay, so that was a sad chapter. Sorry about it, but I'm sure you were all wondering what Kagome's story was? Well, there you go. :D**

**Thanks for all your suggestions about the revenge they should take on Kikyou! Don't think that I've just pushed them all aside, I'm just keeping them in the back of my mind for later on, maybe . Keep them coming, they're the funniest things I've read in a long time!**


	9. Chapter 8: Aftermath

**Author's Note: ...look at all the reviews...Maybe I should stop updating so quickly. It seems to get memore reviews.:P**

**Anyways. _THIS IS IMPORTANT! READ THIS!_ Starting tomorrow or the day after I will -not- be updating as quickly. Lots of things are going to be happening. I'll try to update as much as I can but I'm pretty sure that it's going to be nowhere near as frequent as my updates right now.**

**Okay, that ends the important stuff. On to the less important stuff!**

**My muse is mine! I shall not give her away:P But to the person that wanted her, I'd suggest taking obscenely long showers and bike rides. That's when I get all my ideas.**

**To the person, or people, I don't remember exactly, that asked whether you'd really go blind from looking through a telescope at daytime: Yes. You would. And it would be painful. Like having your eyes burned out. You know how you can start fires with magnifying glasses? A telescope is like a giant super-powerful magnifying glass, but instead of paper that's burning, it's your eye. Usually you wouldn't get your sight back if you looked through a telescope at the sun, but this is a happy ending story.**

**Anyways, thanks so much to all my reviewers! I love you!**

**Yay! On with the writing!**

**Chapter 8: **_Aftermath_

It was 6:30, and Inuyasha and Kagome were standing in front of Miroku's car, awaiting his emergence from the restaurant. Kagome had recovered from her tears but held Inuyasha's hand tightly, still somewhat shaky on her feet. He knew that the accident wasn't something she talked about much, so when she did, it took a lot out of her.

Whenever the restaurant door opened, Kagome heard it and turned to Inuyasha and asked, "Is it them?" For the past five minutes he had been answering "no". He looked back out to the lake, the idea of his revenge on Kikyou turning over and over in his mind, bringing a smile to his face.

"Is it them?" Kagome asked again, and Inuyasha looked to the door.

"No," he said, when he saw a cute couple emerge, holding hands and smiling. But his jaw dropped in shock when he realized that the woman was wearing a blue dress and the man looked just like Miroku. "Wait...yes, it is," he corrected, his surprise evident in his voice.

"What? What's wrong?" Kagome asked, hearing his tone. "What is it?"

"They're...holding hands...and looking happy," Inuyasha said. Kagome beamed.

"Well then, I guess everything went perfectly," she said. "That's awesome!"

Miroku and Sango greeted them, both of them sounding happier than usual; Miroku opened the car door for Sango and Inuyasha for Kagome, then the two boys seated themselves in their proper places. Kagome yawned.

"Kagome, m'lady, I'll drop you off first," Miroku said. "You live closest."

"Okay," Kagome replied sleepily, resting her head on Inuyasha's shoulder for the duration of the ride. When they reached her house, Inuyasha helped her out of the car and led her up to the front door. He rang the doorbell for her and waited with her until he heard footsteps coming.

"See you later," he said, smiling warmly at Kagome. She smiled back at him, knowing he was grinning at her.

"Yeah," she said. "And thanks," she added, almost as an afterthought. The door opened and light spilled onto the doorstep, framing the image of Kagome's mother. Inyuasha was already halfway to the car.

Mrs. Higurashi smiled down at her daughter. "Kagome!" she exclaimed. "Did you have fun?"

"Yeah," Kagome replied, a genuine smile on her face. "Yeah, it was great."

* * *

At 10:00 the next morning, Kagome was bouncing up and down happily on Sango's bed, smiling widely at her best friend. "Come on, come on, come on!" she said. "Tell me what happened!" 

Sango sighed happily, looking up at the ceiling as she flopped down onto her back. "He was so -nice-," she said, almost wistfully. "A perfect gentleman."

Kagome laughed. "Wow, that -is- unusual," she agreed, then shrieked and held up her hands for protection as she heard a pillow whistling towards her. "Oh, come on! Tell me -exactly- what happed after me and Inuyasha left."

"Well," Sango began, "at first it was just the normal chatter. And then we were talking about the restaurant, and the candle, and how romantic everything seemed - and you know, Miroku really can be poetic sometimes," Sango said, and Kagome could imagine the happy gleam in her eyes. "And everything was just going so perfectly," she said.

"Okay, and -then- what?" Kagome pressed.

"He paid for the meal and we left the restaurant," Sango said. "We were going to go to the lake but Miroku figured that's where you and Inuyasha would be, so instead he led me to this awesome place; I really don't know how he knew about it, it was so...secluded." She smiled widely. "There was this big tree in the middle and flowers all through the grass and we sat down underneath the tree and talked some more," she said. "We talked a bit about you and Inuyasha, actually."

Kagome gasped. "What'd you say?"

"Oh, the normal stuff," Sango replied, a mischievous tone to her voice. "How you and him were obviously crushing on each other, the likelihood of you two kissing..."

Kagome gasped again and threw a pillow in Sango's direction. It grazed her shoulder; Kagome's aim was getting better. "You did not!" she exclaimed. "I don't have a crush on him!"

"Oh, right, and I don't have a crush on Miroku either," Sango said sarcastically. "Come on."

Kagome gasped for the third time in a row. "You admitted you have a crush on Miroku!" she almost shouted, pointing an accusing finger at Sango. "I win!"

"Yeah, well, he kissed me."

A fourth gasp, but no followed exclamation. There were a few moments of silence before Kagome said, "Seriously?"

Sango grinned wryly. "Yeah. It wasn't so bad, really. Did Inuyasha kiss you?"

"No!"

"Well then, what'd you do?"

"We...talked," Kagome said, the smile falling from her lips as she remembered the topic of discussion. Sango heardthe saddened tone of her voice,and waited for Kagome to explain further. "He...asked me why I was blind. What had happened. He made me stand in the way of the freezing cold waves!" she said, smiling as she remembered the feeling of the icy water washing over her ankles.

Sango smiled. Kagome had obviously enjoyed it. "Well, what'd you tell him?"

"How it happened," Kagome answered.

"Are you going to tell -me-?" Sango asked. "Come on, if you told Inuyasha, telling me shouldn't be that hard."

Kagome smiled again and re-told the whole story; the school, Marianne, the telescope. When she had finished, Sango looked up at her with tears in her eyes.

"Oh, Kagome, they couldn't have done that!" she exclaimed. Feeling full of pity for her best friend, she wrapped Kagome up in an arm-breaking hug. Kagome grinned.

"It's okay, it's okay," she said. "There's still a chance that I could see again. Apparently my eyes are just taking their own sweet time to heal."

Sango pulled away, looking back at Kagome. How could she even -come- to school after being put through such pain and torture as that? Being forced to be escorted by a popular person must have been so difficult for her...

"Jeez, Kagome, I'm sorry," she said. Kagome looked confused.

"For what?"

"...I dunno. It just sounds really bad." Sango grinned as Kagome laughed.

"Come on, don't feel bad for me. It was a long time ago."

"Yeah..."

At that moment, the phone rang. Sango ran to get it, and pressed the receiver to her ear. "Hello?"

"Sango?" a female voice said on the other end. "Kagome's best friend?"

"Yes," Sango answered.

"It's Kagome's mother; can I speak to her for a moment?"

"Sure," Sango replied dubiously, uncertain as to why Kagome's mother was calling. "Kagome, it's your mum." She brought the wireless handset over to Kagome and handed it to her.

"Hello?" Kagome said.

"Hey Kags! I'm so so sorry for this, but I completely forgot that you have a doctor's appointment today!"

"Awww...but I'm with Sango!" Kagome complained. "Can't it wait? It's not like they're going to tell me anything new. 'Oh, Kagome, you're still blind.' Yeah, I know that."

"You never know, dear, don't give up hope too early," her mother said. "Sango can come, if you just want to spend time with her."

Kagome looked up at her best friend. "I have an appointment," she explainedto Sangosadly. "But apparently you can come with. Want to?"

"Sure, why not?" Sango asked. "Who knows? Maybe I'll get candy." Kagome laughed.

"Sure, she's coming," she said into the telephone. "Are you going to pick us up?"

"I'll be there in five minutes," her mother said. "See you soon!" Then she hung up. Kagome handed the phone back to Sango.

"What is it; she just forgot you had a doctor's appointment?" Sango asked. Kagome nodded in reply. "Aw, that sucks. Do they still give you free candy at the doctor's?"

"Maybe if you ask for it," Kagome replied, grinning. "Come on, she'll be here in five minutes."

* * *

The doctor's office was a very plain-looking affair; the floor was cold white tile and the walls were painted white. There were a few fakey-looking plants hanging from the ceiling or set on the floor, and the walls were decorated with posters describing various medical procedures, or "fun facts", obviously designed to entertain smaller children while educating them. "Edu-tainment" was a favourite with doctors and teachers, but it mostly got on Sango's and Kagome's nerves. 

Sango sat with Kagome's mother on the chairs next to the bed that Kagome was sitting on. The doctor herself, Dr. Murphy, was a tall, slim woman with green eyes, pale skin, and red hair tied back in a ponytail. She had a kind face and smiling eyes, and she grinned at Sango.

"A new arrival?" she asked. Sango smiled at her.

"Just a friend with nothing else to do," she replied. Kagomegrinned at that.

"Ah, well, it's always nice to meet new faces," the doctor said, taking out her light-shine-thingy and pointing it in Kagome's eye. "Well, this is new," she said, turning the light off and on again, then switching to the other eye. "Yes, this is very new."

"What's happening?" Kagome's mother asked.

"Her pupils are responding to the light," Dr. Murphy answered. "This is a very good development!" She put the light thingy away and pulled out some other apparatus to shine in Kagome's eye. "Yes, I can see that her eyes look to be almost fully healed! Took them long enough."

Sango and Kagome both beamed. "Does this mean I'll be able to see?" Kagome asked, her voice full of hope that neither Sango nor Kagome's mother had heard before.

"Yes!" Dr. Murphy answered, and Kagome hugged her. "Okay, okay, let me explain what's going on," the doctor replied happily. Kagome pulled away, still beaming. Kagome's mother and Sango both shared Kagome's enthusiasm.

"Well, I can't see any reason why you're not already able to see, save for the possibility that the nerve paths from your eye to your brain are unused to connecting and firing," the doctor said. "Basically, your eyes need to re-learn how to see. I wouldn't be surprised if, during the next few weeks or so, you "saw" at random intervals, flashes of the scenery around you. At first they may be indistinguishable; your brain needs to re-learn everything, that means recognizing colour, shape, form. The first flash you get might just be white light. The next one might contain some blotches of colour, and they'll progress like that until they become more and more frequent."

"And when do you think she'll get her sight completely back?" Kagome's mother asked, sounding ecstatic.

"I'd say five months maximum," the doctor answered, "but it could just as easily return after just two. I think that the flashes should start within the next few weeks, and possibly even as early as today or tomorrow."

She pulled out a few more randommechanisms and did some more work around Kagome's eyes, but the smile never left her face. "This is so great!" Sango said. "Oh, I'm so glad that I came!" Kagome laughed.

"Okay, you can go," the doctor said. "Now, with the flashes of light may come some pain, because the sudden exposure may hurt your eyes, but it should be bearable. If they're really bad, come back and see me right away."

"Sounds great!" Kagome exclaimed. She hopped off the bed and practically bounded over to Sango and her mother. They both hugged her, Sango harder than Kagome's mother, out of sheer strength. Kagome grinned.

"This is so awesome!" her mother exclaimed.

"Oooh, we -have- to tell Inuyasha and Miroku," Sango said. "They'll be so surprised!"

Kagome laughed. "Well, it's already Sunday. We can tell them tomorrow at lunch, or maybe before school, if we have time."

"We could tell them to come early..." Sango mused. "In fact, that would be the best thing to do, because Inuyasha needs to tell Arik his plan."

"Right," Kagome said. "Oh, this is soooo cool," she said.

The three of them were beaming as they made their way back to the car.

**Author's Note: I'm sorry! That was an obscenely short chapter, I know, but it all needed to be said and continuing it would just have been pointless and boring. I'm sure you're all happy now! Yay for Kagome!**

**Okay, I'll update as soon as I can. In the meantime, feed me reviews:P**


	10. Chapter 9: Fateful News

**Author's Note: Yay, a newand longerchapter! Thanks so much to everyone who's willing to put up with my soon-to-be slow updating. You guys are so awesome! And we're so close to 200 reviews! Absolutely amazing! You guys are the best.**

**However, I have to do a shoutout for someone in particular. Akiraton, who apparently didn't have a very happy first day back at school. I just want to say that it's always important to look to the future with an optimistic eye, and not focus too much on the past. If you keep trying to make things like they used to be then you're not going to get anywhere, nor learn any new things. So...I don't know. Not to sound corny or anything but try to meet new people, learn new things...be happy I guess. I probably have no idea what I'm talking about and could very well have misinterpreted the whole situation, but neh.**

**Anyways. That's it. :P Enjoy the chapter!**

**Chapter 9:**_ Fateful News_

When Inuyasha got the call from Sango telling him to get to school on Monday extra-early, he thought that she was just reminding him that they needed to go over their final plans for their revenge on Kikyou before he would use the spare time to discuss it with Arik. And when he entered the schoolyard to find Sango and Kagome smiling their heads off and Miroku sitting next to them looking confused, he just thought that the two girls were happy that Kikyou was going to finally get payback and Miroku was…well, just being Miroku.

He sat down next to Kagome and groaned as she happily poked his ears. "Small things amuse small minds," he said as she poked his ears again, giggling in delight as they twitched.

"I'm sorry, it's just so funny," she said, still beaming.

"You've got to help me, Inuyasha," Miroku pleaded. Inuyasha raised an eyebrow at him. "They're not telling me why they're so happy. They said they'd have to wait until you got here. But they're still not saying!" He crossed his arms over his chest and scowled at the ground. Sango laughed and mockingly patted his back.

"Awww, the poor wittle Miwoku wants to know why his wittle fwiends are grinning," she said, making a puppy face. One look at Sango sent Miroku falling to the ground in laughter.

"You're not good with pouty faces," he managed to say in between bouts of laughter. Sango kicked him absently.

"Why does he want to know why you're happy?" Inuyasha asked. "It's obvious, isn't it? Revenge on Kikyou?"

Kagome smiled and shook her head. "Haha, now Inuyasha's confused too," she giggled. "I would tell you right away but it's funny when you feel annoyed."

"What do you mean, it's funny when I feel annoyed?" Inuyasha growled. This only sent Kagome and Sango into more fits of hyper laughter.

"You, like, radiate anger," Kagome explained, "but it's obvious that you're not really angry. It's just for show."

Inuyasha's frustration deflated as Kagome saw through him like a sheet of glass. "That's not fair! You're supposed to be blind. How come you can see so much?"

"She'll be seeing a heck of a lot more, soon," Sango said enigmatically. Inuyasha and Miroku both groaned and threw their hands up in the air in frustration. Sango and Kagome continued to laugh.

"Should we -make- them tell us?" Inuyasha suggested. Miroku nodded evilly. "Okay. I'll get Kagome, you get Sango?"

"That's not fair," Miroku protested. "You get the blind one and I get the violent one."

Inuyasha laughed. "Would you rather trade?" Miroku paused, then shook his head 'no'. "Then don't complain," Inuyasha stated. "Okay; Sango and Kagome, this is your last warning!" he said, threateningly. "Tell us what's so great or else we'll -make- you say it!"

"Bring it on!" Sango said defiantly, standing up and helping Kagome up, holding on to the other girl's hand. "Kagome, we can beat them!"

"Right!" Inuyasha said. "Miroku, on three! One…two…three!"

The two boys ran at Kagome and Sango, both of them aiming at their previously selected targets. Sango ran back and pulled Kagome with her, the both of them leading the boys on a fast run around the school grounds. However, Inuyasha and Miroku were faster, so they caught up to the girls relatively soon. At the last minute Sango and Kagome stopped in their tracks; Miroku and Inuyasha, who hadn't seen that coming, collided into them and they ended up on a large human pile on the ground. Kagome could feel a heavy weight sprawled across her stomach and she poked at it.

"Okay, who's where?" she asked. Sango laughed.

"Well, I'm sitting on Miroku," Sango said. "He's trying to push me off. You're such a weakling," she added, in Miroku's direction. He groaned in reply.

"Yeah, and you're heavy," he said. "What, have you been eating too many cookies lately?"

Kagome heard the oh-so-familiar sound of Sango's hand coming into fast contact with the side of Miroku's face and smiled.

"Okay, that leaves Inuyasha," she said. She suddenly felt the blood rush to her face as she realized what the heavy weight on top of her must be. Inuyasha rolled over and sat down on the grass, but kept his legs across Kagome's stomach, holding her on the ground. "Inuyasha, get off me," Kagome said, smiling.

"I'm not going to let you get up until you tell me what you and Sango are all happy-smiles about," he said. Kagome tried to squirm out of her position but Inuyasha just pushed down on her. She had no chance, and sighed.

"Fine, fine," she said. "Well, the truth is, me and Sango heard a rumour that Kikyou's leaving the school."

Inuyasha gasped in shock; this answer surprised him so much that he completely forgot about holding Kagome down and the girl got out of his grip easily. Then he realized that Kikyou had paid a full year's tution; Kagome had lied.

"That's so evil!" he shouted, looking around for her. In his shock he hadn't been paying attention to where she had gone. "Kagome?" he asked; he could only see Sango and Miroku. Sango had finally got up and was entertaining herself by braiding an exasperated Miroku's hair.

All of the sudden he felt something poke his ears and he twisted his upper body around, finding himself face-to-face with Kagome, who was beaming again.

"You liar!" Inuyasha snarled. Kagome laughed and poked his ears again. "Come on, tell the truth!"

"Okay, okay, fine!" she said. "But you're not going to believe me," she added.

"Try me," Inuyasha said. "But if you lie again…"

Kagome grinned maliciously. "I'm going to get my sight back."

"Okay, that's obviously a lie," Miroku said. "We could -both- team up on her," he mused. "I could go and fill up a bucket of water to pour over her head while you held her down," he suggested.

"Okay," Inuyasha said. Kagome tried to jump out of the way but Inuyasha grabbed her before she could get herself fully clear, and pulled her in front of him, wrapping his arms around her waist so she couldn't move. "Go get the bucket."

Miroku stood and started to walk towards school. "I'm not lying!" Kagome exclaimed. "Me and Sango went to my doctor's appointment and my eyes are almost healed!"

Miroku kept walking. Inuyasha still didn't let go of her.

"She's telling the truth," Sango said. "Miroku, come back!"

Miroku turned around and gave Sango a funny look. "She's actually going to see again?" he asked. "By the way, Inuyasha told me how…you know…it happened. Sorry, kid. But aren't telescope incidents usually permanent?"

Inuyasha still hadn't let go of Kagome, more out of shock than anything else. She had stopped trying to get out of his grip, instead using him as something of a human pillow, leaning against his arms, closing her eyes, and grinning. "Yeah, they usually are," she answered. "I guess my story's going to have a happy ending."

"Is it just going to happen all at once?" Inuyasha asked. "Like, one second you're completely blind and the next you're seeing everything perfectly?"

"Hardly," Sango answered for Kagome, who looked pretty comfortable where she was. "Apparently she's going to have these weird light flashes for a while, and apparently they could hurt. But after a while they'll be more and more frequent until they're constant, and tah-dah! Sight!"

Kagome nodded her agreement. Inuyasha looked down at the girl he was holding in his arms, absently playing with her hair. "It'll hurt?" he asked.

"Yeah," Kagome said. "But you can't expect your eyes, accustomed to total darkness, -not- to hurt after being exposed to sunlight," she said. "It's like when you're sleeping and then someone wakes you up by turning the light on. Painful."

"That sucks," Miroku said.

"But you're going to get your sight back!" Inuyasha exclaimed. "That's unbelievable! I mean…just…wow!" Now all four of them were beaming.

"I can't wait until I can see what you guys look like," Kagome said, raising her hand to Inuyasha's head and trying to find his dog ears. He pressed them flat against his head, making it more difficult for her, but she found them anyways and began to scratch them. A low rumble of happiness sounded in Inuyasha's chest and Kagome stopped, somewhat surprised. Inuyasha poked the girl's ears as if in revenge. She swatted at his hand, hitting it perfectly. Her aim was getting a lot better.

"You already know a little bit about what we look like, right?" Inuyasha asked, tilting his head against his shoulder.

"Not really," Kagome answered. The three of them stared at her. "Well, I know that Inuyasha's got long hair and claws, and apparently his hair's white and he's got fangs. But I wouldn't know that unless someone specifically told me. I know everything that's important for me to be able to recognize you; the sound of your voice and your footsteps, and that's pretty much it. After all, looks are pretty much only for recognition. I have no problem knowing who's who."

"We should celebrate this somehow," Miroku said. "Like maybe a party or something."

"That's a good idea," Sango agreed. "But when? After the first few flashes? When her sight's completely back? Sometime in between?"

"We can have more than one party," Inuyasha said, smiling. "How about…the first one this weekend? That way we can celebrate the first few flashes, hopefully, as well as our revenge on Kikyou."

"At my place?" Sango offered.

"Sounds great," Kagome said, beaming.

"Oh, here comes Arik," Miroku observed, looking over at the parking lot. The boy was climbing over the fence, dropping himself into the school grounds. He saw the four of them and waved; Inuyasha must have already phoned him or something, otherwise he just would have ignored them. Inuyasha waved back and he began to approach them.

"So let's hear this plan of yours," he said when he got within speaking range, only acknowledging the existence of Inuyasha.

"Mass ignorance," Inuyasha said simply. "You need to find a way to talk to everybody in the school except for Kikyou. For one full day, we need -all- of them to pretend like Kikyou doesn't exist."

Arik fell silent, thinking about this. "Well, it'll certainly mess with her head," he agreed. "But even if we can get the message around the whole school, how are we going to get them all to listen?"

"Most people will follow your word like law," Inuyasha said. "The only people you might have some trouble with is Kikyou's gang. Now, if you told them that Kikyou would leave the school if this was successful…you know, out of shame for being treated like an outcast..."

"They might all grab at the chance to take her place," Arik finished. "Yes, that's brilliant, for an idiot like you."

Inuyasha smiled. "Now, don't flatter me," he said mockingly. "Just get it done and don't mention our names."

"I wouldn't think of it; then people would know I went to -you- for ideas," Arik said. "Forget this ever happened."

"Go eat acid," Inuyasha retorted. Arik left, leaving the four of them sitting together. Kagome looked as if she had fallen asleep against Inuyasha. Sango and Miroku were chatting about something. Inuyasha moved his arm, disturbing Kagome. "What, you tired or something?" he asked. She grinned.

"Yeah."

"Why?"

"Dunno."

She stretched, yawning. "Miroku, I dare you to climb the tree," she said, grinning. Miroku blinked and looked at her.

"Aren't you supposed to offer me the choice of either truth or dare?" he asked. "Isn't that how the game works?"

"Fine," Kagome said. "Truth or dare?"

"Truth."

Kagome sighed. "Why don't you want to climb the tree?"

Miroku's face flushed and Sango began to laugh. He muttered something under his breath.

"What's that? We can't hear you," Inuyasha said, grinning. Miroku glared at him.

"I don't like heights," Miroku admitted. "Happy?"

"Very," Kagome grinned. "Your turn."

"Fine. Inuyasha, truth or dare?"

"Dare," he said, without hesitation. Miroku paused, thinking over his options.

"I dare you to…" he began. "Ummm…" All of the sudden, a flash of evilness flared in his eyes. "Kiss Kagome."

"What!" Kagome and Inuyasha both exclaimed, blushing. Sango laughed at their perfect synchronization.

"You've got to be kidding me," Inuyasha growled. Miroku shrugged.

"You chose Dare," he said, grinning. Inuyasha sent him a death-glare, but Miroku ignored it, unfazed. Inuyasha looked at Kagome.

"Give me your hand," he said. Kagome rolled her eyes and held up her hand. Inuyasha took it in his own, made a disgusted face - but his blush betrayed him - and gave the skin of her hand the smallest peck possible. Both his and Kagome's blushes deepened and Sango and Miroku nearly fell over in their laughter. Inuyasha roughly pushed Kagome's hand, muttering a vivid swear word under his breath.

Sango looked towards the entrance of the school, noticing that the flow of people had grown significantly. "We should probably be getting inside," she said, still beaming. "See you guys at lunch."

"Right," Inuyasha said, grabbing Kagome's hand again, helping her up, still blushing. He stole a brief glance in her direction and saw that she was smiling.

* * *

The morning's classes went by uneventfully. Kagome looked as if she were going to fall asleep in each of them. In science class, when their science teacher had stressed the importance of only using the powerful telescopes at nighttime, Kagome had done nothing but smile wryly. Inuyasha was beginning to worry about her.

"Why are you so tired?" he asked her, when he had taken her up to her locker.

"Didn't sleep very well," she said. "As in, I didn't sleep very much at all. I kept thinking about being able to see again. Quite frankly, it frightened me a little bit."

"How so?" Inuyasha asked, confused.

"Well, the mental images that I've formed of the world are all based off of my memories," she explained, while opening her locker. Inuyasha watched her put in the code for her lock, remembering her combination: 15-42-22. He stored the numbers away in his memory, for future reference. "I kept thinking about how it was possible that over time my memories had distorted my perception of the world, and what would happen if I got a glimpse of a world that was completely different from the one I had been surrounding myself in for such a long time." She sighed. "I'm not making much sense, am I?"

"No, it's okay," Inuyasha said. "It's like, if over time your memories had been skewed so that you thought the sky was green and grass was blue, and then when you finally got to see the world it would be like everything was inverted and you'd be all confused. It makes sense to be creeped out by that."

Kagome beamed. "I'm glad you understand," she said. "Come on; they should be waiting for us by now."

"Wait for just a minute while I go get my lunch," Inuyasha said, running down to his locker, entering in his own code, grabbing his brown-bag lunch (courtesy of his foster mother) and running back up the stairs. As always, Kagome was standing there waiting for him. She didn't hear him coming, evidently; she was humming a song under her breath, the same cheery melody that Inuyasha had heard her sing a long time ago, when she was sitting under the tree. Inuyasha stopped moving, not alerting Kagome to his presence just so that he could hear her sing. She really did have a pretty voice.

After a minute or so Kagome stopped singing, looking around. "Inuyasha?" she asked the empty air. Inuyasha mentally kicked himself; she would be getting worried if he took that long to get back.

"Yeah, I'm here," he said roughly. Kagome smiled.

"Well, why didn't you say something?" she asked.

"Just listening," Inuyasha said. "You have a nice singing voice."

Kagome blushed. "Thanks," she managed to say. "You were listening to all of that?"

"Yeah," Inuyasha said. "But don't worry, I liked it." He held onto her hand again and led her outside, towards Sango and Miroku who were playing rock-paper-scissors underneath the tree. When they saw Inuyasha and Kagome approaching, they stopped and waved.

When they reached the tree, Kagome leaned her back against its thick trunk, thankful for the support. She had gotten virtually no sleep the night before, thinking about the possibility of her seeing again. She had tried to form a mental picture of her friends but couldn't; she had no idea what their faces looked like.

She heard Inuyasha chatting with Sango and Miroku as she leaned her head back against the tree. It would be so nice just to fall asleep here, drifting away into nothingness; but she kept her eyes open so she wouldn't actuallyfloat into unconsciousness. She could eat later, but she still had school…

Her thoughts were interrupted by a blinding flash of light cutting across her eyes. There were no colours, figures, or anything; just white light that completely dispelled the customary darkness. With it came atorrent of pain, more than Kagome had felt in a long time. She pressed her hands against her eyes and as she fell forwards the pain blocked out all sounds around her; her world was the sunspots and the fire that was running through her eyes.

From Inuyasha's, Sango's and Miroku's perspectives, Kagome had just randomly screamed, pressed her hands to her face and fell forwards so that her head was in her lap. Their talk immediately stopped as they stared at her; Inuyasha was the only one with the place of mind to stand, walk next to her, sit down again and wrap his arm around her shoulder.

Kagome felt the heavy weight against her and she leaned into the warmth, the pain finally going away. She realized that there were tears running down her face. Someone was saying her name.

"Kagome?" Inuyasha said softly, holding her tighter as the girl leaned into him. "Kagome, are you alright? What happened?"

She felt someone holding her, hugging her, offering her comfort; she couldn't move, couldn't speak. There had been light! She had...seen something! Finally something, -anything-had penetrated the darkness that she had been living in for so long...

"Kagome? Can you talk at all?" Sango asked, kneeling in front of her friend.

"…yeah," Kagome answered weakly. "I saw something!" she said, gaining energy now that she had said something. "I saw...just...white light...but it wasn't dark anymore! And it was...just...amazing!" She pressed herself against whatever was hugging her, and then realized it was Inuyasha; her face flushed, but she didn't move. Neither did he.

"Are you alright?" he asked. She nodded and felt him relax against her. "You scared me," he said softly. She smiled.

"You scared -all- of us," Miroku said. "I gather that it was painful?"

Kagome nodded again.

"Well, that sucks," Inuyasha said.

"It'll hurt less next time," Kagome said confidently.

"Whatever you say," Sango said, relief in her voice. "Just don't scare us like that again."

"Else we'll have to scare -you-," Inuyasha teased, messing up Kagome's hair. The girl laughed.

"As Sango would say, bring it on!" she declared, opening her lunch bag.

**Author's Note: And so it begins! When'll the next flash be? Will Inuyasha kiss her again? What'll they do at the party? All this and more will be answered as I continue writing!**

**...sorry, I just had to get that out of my system. :P I'll update as soon as I can! Thanks for all the reviews, and keep 'em coming! I'm sure we can pass 200 with this chapter. .**


	11. Chapter 10: the Vengeance

**Author's Note: Not much to say this time. Thank you to Aia Chan, who gave me information about the stylus! I didn't know any of the things that you told me. Thanks so much for your input!**

**Aside from that, I love you guys! Thanks SO MUCH for all the reviews! We hit 200! We surpassed it! You're all the best. :D**

**Chapter 10: **_The Vengeance_

"Hey, wait up!" Miroku called after Sango, who had ran ahead ofhim after seeing Inuyasha and Kagome sitting under the tree, waiting for them. It was Tuesday morning; the 'big day', as they were calling it, when Kikyou would receive the silent treatment from each and every person in the school. At least, that was the plan; but they thought that Arik would know what he was doing. The only thing that they could do was sit and wait for Kikyou to arrive, and observe the school's reaction.

"Good morning," Miroku said to Inuyasha and Kagome, who had been chatting about whatever. They both smiled up at him.

"Morning, Miroku," Kagome replied.

"Is she here yet?" Sango asked, obviously referring to Kikyou. Both Inuyasha and Kagome shook their heads in response. "Aww...I was hoping to have some fun before school started."

"It'll probably be better at lunchtime," Inuyasha noted. "When she's frustrated with being ignored all through the morning. We might want to eat in the cafeteria, just to see what she does."

"That's a good idea," Kagome agreed. "I wonder what she'll do by the end of the day; how far she'll go to get her revenge on Arik."

"It would be funny if she tried to get revenge on the entire school," Sango said, smiling. "I mean, what would she do, hire a hitman to take Arik hostage?"

"That would be hilarious," Miroku agreed, "but it would be more convenient to blackmail someone for an embarrassing baby picture of him and put it up on all the lockers."

"Nah, it's been done too many times," Inuyasha mused. "She's more the person to make someone afraid for their physical health. I'd say she's more likely to start a fire somewhere. Or maybe set off a minor explosive in the cafeteria."

"Cherry bombs down the toilets?" Kagome suggested.

"Nope, too common," Inuyasha said. "She likes doing stuff that's original. Maybe finding out where everybody in the school lives and writing threats on their bedroom walls?"

"That -does- sound like something she'd do," Sango said. She flopped over onto her back to stare up at the clouds and Miroku poked her stomach. She glared at him before saying, "Maybe she could hire professional jet flyers to do a flyby of the school and write out something threatening. Her father has money, I've heard."

"Yeah, her whole family's rich," Inuyasha nodded. "I've been to her house."

"Ah, of course, Mr. Popular," Kagome teased, poking his ears.

"You're never going to get tired of my dog ears, are you, Kagome?" he asked. She grinned widely and shook her head. He groaned and leaned against the bark of the tree. "Well, whatever Kikyou does, it's going to be big."

"That's for sure," Miroku agreed.

* * *

Apparently, Arik had done his job perfectly. When Kikyou walked into Cameron Drake High School 5 minutes before class was scheduled to start, nobody took any notice. When she tried to talk with Rhia, her closest 'friend', the other girl ignored her completely. Throughout first period her face grew progressively redder, and by lunchtime she looked as if she was going to explode. Inuyasha, Kagome, Sango and Miroku sat together in one of the more secluded cafeteria tables so that they could watch the action without looking suspicious.

Kikyou was late for lunch; she was probably planning to make an entrance. When she finally stormed into the cafeteria, it was impossible -not- to notice her; she opened the metal doors with such force that they slammed against the walls extremely loudly, and bore an expression on her face that could cause a rhinoceros to drop dead if looks could kill. Fortunately, the whole cafeteria did a spectacular job of covering up their surprise, placing over their faces an impenetrable mask of ignorance. The four friends had to try their hardest to conceal their laughter; Kikyou looked like a large tomato.

"I can't believe the expression on her face," Miroku whispered. "I guess this punishment is really getting to her."

"Great idea, Inuyasha," Sango congratulated. "I could never have thought of this. And who would have thought that it would work so well?"

"She's so used to having people fall head over heels to help her," Kagome said. "To have everybody ignoring her must hurt so much."

They had more difficulty controlling their laughter when Kikyou mechanically picked up a tray and loaded it with cafeteria food, moving over to the table that was characteristically hers.

"Hey, Rhia," Kikyou said. Inuyasha, with his dog ears, could hear everything that was being said, and repeated it for his friends, who couldn't. "What's going on?"

"Rhia's ignoring her, continuing to talk about nail polish and complimentary colours," Inuyasha explained. "Kikyou's muttering something under her breath...it sounded like a curse or a threat or something."

"I wonder if she'll throw something..." Miroku mused. At that moment, Kikyou threw a piece of her salad at Rhia. Sango giggled, explaining what had just transpired to Kagome. She, too, giggled.

"Rhia, why aren't you listening to me?" Inuyasha said, mockingly repeating Kikyou in a whining voice. "Aren't you my friend?"

"She's still talking about nail polish?" Sango asked. Inuyasha shook his head.

"No, the topic of discussion somehow moved from nail polish to television shows," Inuyasha said. "I think they're talking about some reality show. Pathetic."

"Oooh, now her face is going kind of purple," Sango explained to Kagome. "She's standing up..."

Indeed, Kikyou had risen from her cafeteria seat and looked as if she was prepared to address the whole school. She looked around at the faces of the entire population of Cameron Drake High School, expecting some glimmer of recognition; she received none. Even Arik himself was doing an excellent job of looking innocent.

"Cameron Drake High School," Kikyou announced. Inuyasha didn't need to repeat what she was saying anymore; she was speaking loud enough for everybody to hear her, even people that were wandering the hallway outside of the cafeteria. "Undoubtedly Arik has been speaking to you all, telling you to ignore me for a day. I'd like to have it known that I do -not- consider this funny." She looked around threateningly. Under normal circumstances people would have been intimidated; but there were so many people defiantly standing up to her that they gave each other strength, and in the end Kikyou was just making a fool of herself. Obviously, she realized this; her face went even more red.

"You are all acting like children," she shouted. "Ignoring me. What, do you wish for me to be cast aside like an outcast? Do you wish to throw me out of your lives?" She looked pointedly at the boys. "Do you really want me to disappear forever?"

Now, it was getting more and more difficult for people to ignore her; particularly the males, who were all secretly hoping to get Kikyou as their next girlfriend. Murmurs began to run through the crowd and Kikyou smiled wryly, knowing that her efforts were not going to waste. But then Arik cleared his throat and continued to chat with his friends; a message to everybody, that they could still win. The murmurs disintegrated instantly and Kikyou found herself standing amongst an undefeatable crowd.

"Fine, then," she declared. "But your actions won't go without consequences." And with that, she picked up her lunch and left the cafeteria, slamming the door behind her.

The whole room was silent for a few moments, but then Arik began to cheer. "We did it! Let's just hope he doesn't come back!" he shouted, and a loud 'Hoorah!' arose from the multitude of teenagers.

"Well, that was as successful as anybody could have hoped," Miroku observed. "They did a much better job than I was suspecting."

"Definitely," Kagome agreed, going back to her lunch. "That was fun."

"I wonder what she'll do?" Sango mused. "She won't just let that go. She has to be planning some kind of revenge upon the whole school."

"Yeah, well, whatever it is, it's worth seeing her face," Inuyasha grinned. "That, my friends, was a priceless moment."

They went back to their lunches, smiles on their faces as each of them made sure to store the day's events safely in their memories.

* * *

By the end of the day, Kikyou had given up on her efforts to talk to people. She walked silently among the corridors, not looking anywhere save dead ahead, occasionally shooting death-glares at passers-by, who ignored them. Sango was continually describing things to Kagome; the progression of Kikyou's facial expressions, the way that people grinned after she had passed, satisfied with a job well done. Indeed, the whole school seemed happier and more cooperative; a few people even ventured so far as to say a quick "hello" or give a small nod in the direction of Inuyasha and Kagome as they passed. It was rather shocking, actually.

After school, Inuyasha, Kagome, Sango and Miroku were sitting underneath their tree, enjoying the comfortable silence as each of them found themselves lost in their own thoughts. None of them had anything to do later on in the day, and were content just spending time with each other. Sango was leaning her head on Miroku's shoulder, using him as something of a human pillow. Inuyasha and Kagome were sitting close together.

'I wish I knew the revenge Kikyou's going to take,' Sango was thinking. 'I wonder if she'll go for physical or mental pain?'

'I could totally grab Sango's butt right now,' Miroku was thinking. 'But I'd better not; she looks so comfortable and she might move.' He settled for briefly patting her on the head. Sango smiled up at him.

Kagome and Inuyasha's thoughts were surprisingly similar to each other's, though neither of them knew it. They both ran long the same lines. Kagome was thinking, 'There's no way I can have a crush on Inuyasha. He obviously doesn't like me back, and besides, how could he love a blind girl?' while Inuyasha pondered, 'Oh, come on, just admit it to yourself, you have a crush on her. But you may as well get over it, because there's no way she could like you back since you used to be popular.' They both stole brief glances at each other before blushing and turning away.

Miroku and Sango noticed this odd behavior, looked at each other, grinned evilly, and nodded in unspoken agreement. Miroku stood up and walked around to Inuyasha's other side while Sango remained in her spot, next to Kagome. Now the two of them were surrounded.

"So..." Miroku began, looking over Inuyasha and Kagome at Sango, who had an evil glint in her eye.

"So..." Sango echoed. Inuyasha and Kagome looked at the couple with confused expressions.

"So what?" Inuyasha asked. "Are you guys expecting something?"

"Maybe," Miroku said enigmatically. "What are you two thinking about?"

Immediately both Inuyasha and Kagome blushed. "Nothing," Kagome said.

"Oh, come on," Sango said. "It's obviously not 'nothing'."

"What, are we supposed to be thinking about something in particular?" Inuyasha asked. "Chocolate, maybe? Or Kikyou?"

"I need to go get something," Sango said. "Miroku, I could use your help." And with that, the two of them walked over to the school, whispering to each other and occasionally bursting into laughter. Inuyasha looked at Kagome, who looked confused.

"Do you have any idea what that was about?" Inuyasha asked. Kagome shook her head in reply.

"Did you?" she asked.

"Not a clue," Inuyasha answered. A sudden thought crossing his mind, he grinned evilly and asked, "What -were- you thinking about?"

"I'll tell you if you tell me what you were thinking about," she replied, smiling. Inuyasha laughed.

"I was thinking about life," Inuyasha answered. "And whether or not certain things are going to happen in my future."

"And I was thinking about probability," Kagome replied, avoiding the topic in the same way as Inuyasha, but getting the feeling that he had been thinking about the same thing she had. "I was thinking about the odds of someone's perception being altered through emotion."

Inuyasha smiled, wrapping his arm around Kagome's shoulder. "So, tell me, Ms. Probablity," he teased. "What are the odds of something interesting happening in my future?"

Kagome looked up at him, a smile on her face. "Well, I don't know, Mr. Fate," she replied. "Are you going to _make _something interesting happen in your future?"

"Touché," Inuyasha said. Kagome laughed, leaning into him. "I get the feeling that I know what you were thinking about."

The two of them were so wrapped up in their own thoughts that they didn't notice Miroku and Sango sneaking up behind them, buckets in their hands.

"Really?" Kagome answered. "Then what was I thinking about?"

Inuyasha grinned, leaning in a little closer to Kagome. "You were thinking-"

At that moment the two of them were interrupted by a downpour of icy water landing on their heads. Inuyasha glared upwards, seeing Sango and Miroku with upturned buckets in their hands, laughing hysterically. He growled at them. Kagome rubbed her arms with her hands, the freezing liquid chilling her to the bone.

"What on earth were you -thinking-?" Inuyasha asked menacingly, standing up and climbing to the first level of the tree: Sango and Miroku had clambered up its branches as fast as they could in order to avoid Inuyasha's wrath. As he brought himself higher and higher up the tree, Miroku and Sango pulled themselves up in order to avoid him, until the two of them had reached the top of the tree and Inuyasha was on the level just below them.

"You can't run now!" Inuyasha said, smiling. Sango and Miroku looked down at the ground; Kagome looked smaller than usual, still sitting with her back to the tree.

"Wow, we're really high up," Sango observed, all thoughts of running away forgotten. Miroku, too, noticed the fact that they were at the very top of the tree.

"Oh, crap," he said. His face blanched and Inuyasha rolled his eyes.

"Okay, just climb down," he said, forgetting temporarily that he had to kill Sango and Miroku for interrupting him. "Kagome did it, so can you." He helped Sango and Miroku down the tree, taking much more time to reach the ground than they had to reach the top. When they finally got there, Kagome glared at them, still trying to wring out her soaking hair.

"What did you do that for?" she asked, frustrated. She and Inuyasha had been so close...

"Okay, okay, we're sorry," Sango said, recovering from the shock of being so high above the ground. "But it was funny."

Kagome was still cold; she rubbed her arms with her hands again. A slight wind blew against her and she shivered. Inuyasha finally noticed and walked over to her, wrapping his arm around her shoulders again and pulling her close to him. She smiled at the warmth, and surprisingly, began to laugh.

"What're you laughing at?" Inuyasha asked, still frustrated with Sango and Miroku.

"It -was- kind of funny," Kagome said, smiling a bit. "Not very original, but still funny."

Inuyasha felt all his frustration melt away. Kagome was so forgiving. It was almost completely foreign. He felt certain that one day it was going to get her into a lot of trouble, but tried not to think too much on that; for now, he was happy having Kagome so close to him. "You still cold?" he asked.

"No, but if you go away then I might be," she said, grinning. Inuyasha laughed and didn't let go of her.

Sango and Miroku smiled, seeing Inuyasha and Kagome so close. They were both forming their own plans to bring the two of them together. The party was going to be fun.

* * *

The room was dark; it was always dark. There was a window set in the wall, but the blinds covering it were drawn. They were always drawn. He liked the darkness much better than the light. He was sitting in his comfortable chair with his desk in front of him, bare save for a single phone, sitting in its cradle. He would sit in this chair and wait for it to ring; that was his job.

Work had been slow for the past couple of days; apparently people were happy with their lives. It had given him a lot of time to think of new ways to go about his business, so now he was more ready than he had been in a long time to do his job properly.

He had been sitting in his chair and staring at the phone for the past hour or so and was just about ready to go and get himself a coffee before the room was filled with the loud, unignorable sound of "BRRRRRRING!"

Smiling, he picked up the handset. "This is the Agency," he said into the receiver. "Please state your location and main target."

"Cameron Drake High School," a feminine voice from the other line said. "Arik."

**Author's Note: Ooooh, ominous! Anyways, WE HIT 200 REVIEWS! In fact, we went way past it! 230 reviews! And over 80 favs! I love you guys so much.**

**I won't be updating as frequently, but I'll still be updating. :D Feed me reviews! Give me suggestions as to what Kikyou could do for revenge!We can hit 250 before I put up the next chapter!**


	12. Chapter 11: Preparations

**Author's Note: 280 reviews! That's so awesome! You guys are the absolute best!**

**EDIT: Omigosh...I'm so sorry, I forgot to edit it so now I'm going back and putting page breaks everywhere. I dunno if this'll make me lose reviews but if it does I'M SORRY!**

**I managed to finish a chapter for my other story as well as one for this one, so here's my gift to you all! You're amazing people! Thanks so much for all your compliments. :D**

**Chapter 11:** _Preparations_

It was Friday morning, but it wasn't bright, sunny, and cheerful; the sky was dark and grey, the clouds forming a solid blanket over the earth. The air was heavy and wet, as if the world was being stifled. It was going to rain; there might even be a thunderstorm. When Inuyasha reached the school and found Kagome sitting underneath the tree, he ran over to her. What was she doing, sitting outside when the weather was so bad? Underneath a tree, of all places? It could get hit by lightning, fall down...that would be terrible.

During the past week, Kagome hadn't had any new flashes of slight, making Inuyasha wonder how long it would be until she could see again. She had gotten the first flash pretty quickly, but a lot of time had passed since then; was it possible that it wasn't working? Another roll of thunder rang behind him and Kagome looked up.

"Inuyasha?" she asked, looking straight at him. He smiled at her.

"Yeah, it's me," he answered. "What are you doing, sitting outside? Don't you know it's going to rain?"

"Yeah, but I don't know how to get into the building, and besides, I like to avoid the stairs when I'm on my own," she said, smiling wryly. "You know, the whole bad-experiences thing."

Inuyasha laughed. "Well, do you want to go inside now that I can take you there?"

"No, actually," Kagome said, leaning back against the tree. "I love thunderstorms, so long as I'm not on my own. They're so...I don't know. So powerful, in a way. You don't need to be able to see to enjoy a thunderstorm."

Inuyasha sat down next to her and she leaned against him. "That's all true," he said, feeling a slight thrill run through his body when she put her head on his shoulder. "But what about the rain?"

"I don't care about the rain," she said. "Are Sango and Miroku here yet?"

"Nope," Inuyasha answered. "It's just us." He paused, considering this. It was just the two of them...Miroku and Sango weren't there...they wouldn't be able to dump water over their heads this time. Unfortunately, the clouds might do that instead.

"Do you know what I'm thinking -now-?" Kagome asked him, grinning. He laughed.

"No, I have no idea," he answered. "But do you know what I'm thinking?"

"What are you thinking?"

"This," he answered, reaching out his hands and tickling her, being careful not to hurt her with his claws. She squirmed and laughed, trying to avoid him.

"Hey, no fair, I don't know where you are!" she said, reaching out her hands. When she felt his arm she quickly rocked back on her heels, then threw herself forwards so that she bowled Inuyasha over. She tried to let go of him after that, but at the last second Inuyasha grabbed at her, so that she fell over with him. Inuyasha ended up flat on his back with Kagome sprawled across his chest.

"Got you!" he said, grinning. She laughed and picked herself up, holding onto the grass as if she would forget where it was. She looked up at him and he saw something flash in her eyes; recognition, almost. She gasped, looking at him; and then the recognition in her eyes was gone. She pressed her hands to her eyes.

"What? What happened? Did you see?" Inuyasha asked, sitting up and moving next to Kagome. "Come on, let's get back to the tree so we won't get soaked if it rains." Kagome went with him, one hand holding on to his arm, the other one pressed against her eyes. When they were settled in beneath the tree's branches, Inuyasha asked again, "Did you see?"

"I saw...I don't know what I saw," she said, finally, lowering her hand from her eyes, and leaning against him again. "I don't know, Inuyasha, it looked kind of scary; it was really fuzzy and all the colours were pale, but I saw this white blob above two yellow blobs and then complete darkness below that."

Inuyasha looked down at himself. He was wearing his black jacket. "I think you saw me, Kagome," he said, smiling widely. She, too, smiled.

"But what was all that darkness?" she asked. "It looked like there were yellow eyes watching me but they were just floating." She shook a little bit, but stopped when Inuyasha wrapped his arm around her shoulders.

"I'm wearing a black jacket, Kagome," he said, his voice soft. "There's no darkness. Just black. It's okay," he added, when he saw that she really did look frightened.

"Stupid black jacket," Kagome muttered, leaning into Inuyasha. She could hear the beginnings of rain falling onto the foliage of the tree; they sounded peaceful, as they '_plop, plop, plopped'_ onto the grass and the leaves. They calmed her down and she smiled. Inuyasha felt her relax against him.

"So, are you looking forwards to the party?" he asked, changing the subject. It was amazing that Kagome was getting her sight back, but it had obviously shaken her, and he didn't want to make her upset.

"Yeah," she answered, her voice gaining strength. "Are you?"

"Of course!" he answered. "But I'm not entirely sure that I want to see what Sango and Miroku were planning. I get the feeling that they have a huge scheme that they're excluding us from."

"Are they excluding us from the scheme, or does it circle around us?" Kagome retorted, mockingly enigmatic. "-That- is the question."

Inuyasha laughed. "But what would they want us to do?" he asked, a distinctly rhetorical question as they both knew the answer.

"Do you want their evil plan to succeed?" Kagome asked Inuyasha, looking up at him. He grinned.

"Well, I don't know," he answered. "Do you?" Kagome shrugged her response, but didn't look away from him. Still grinning slightly, he leaned in closer to her; they were closer than they had ever been, now...

"Hey, Inuyasha! Kagome!" Miroku shouted from the entrance to the parking lot. "What on earth are you doing, sitting underneath that tree? It's raining!"

Inuyasha pulled away from Kagome and growled in Miroku's direction. He always had the worst timing. Kagome was blushing; Inuyasha saw that and started to blush himself.

"Come on, guys!" Sango said, walking up behind Miroku and gesturing to Inuyasha and Kagome. Inuyasha bared his fangs at the two of them but stood up, pulling Kagome with him. She held onto his hand and leaned in closer to him.

"It's okay," she said. "The party'll be fun."

Inuyasha grumbled again, but led her over to Miroku and Sango, and into the school.

* * *

The lightning could be seen from inside the school, and all through the morning's classes nobody was really paying attention to the teacher, instead trying to guess where the next bolt would strike and cheering loudly whenever one was seen. Eventually the teachers gave up on the kids, going back to their desks and reading, maybe sipping at a coffee, letting the students have their fun with the weather. By lunchtime the storm had cleared, and the sun had managed to dry out the grass, so that when Kagome, Inuyasha, Sango and Miroku walked over to their tree with their lunches in their hands, they could sit beneath its branches without getting mud all over their bottoms.

"Well, that was certainly an interesting morning," Sango said, rubbing her ears. "I think all that cheering has made me partially deaf."

"It was fun, though," Kagome said.

"Yeah," Miroku agreed. "Did you see the strike that looked like a human face in profile?"

"Oh, that one was so cool," Inuyasha exclaimed. "And the one that looked like it was just beside the school?"

"Oh, that one scared the bajeepers out of me," Miroku replied, grinning sheepishly. "But anyways. We have more important things to think about!"

"Yeah," Sango agreed. "Like the party! What are we going to do? How will we celebrate Kagome's two flashes?" Inuyasha had already told the two of them about Kagome's second flash earlier that morning.

"And don't forget a spectacularly successful revenge on Kikyou," Kagome added. "That deserves to be remembered."

"Ah, of course," Miroku agreed. "Quite frankly, I'm surprised that she hasn't yet done anything to get back at the school."

"She's probably biding her time, stewing up something horrible," Inuyasha said. "But when she strikes, we'll be ready!"

The four of them punched the air and shouted a loud "Hoorah!" before collapsing with laughter.

"No, seriously though," Sango said. "Should I rent any movies? Or any games? I have a few games that could be fun to play..." Her eye twinkled mischievously and she glanced at Miroku. It was obvious that they had their own plans for the party.

"Ah, and what kinds of games would these be?" Inuyasha asked.

"You'll just have to wait and see," Sango replied. "But do you guys have any suggestions? For food, maybe?"

"Pizza!" Miroku exclaimed immediately. "You can't have a party without pizza and soda pop."

"And candy," Kagome added. "Sugar stuff. Always good."

"True, true," Inuyasha agreed. "Movies...hmmm...I like a good action movie."

"You would," Sango agreed. "I have no problem with an action movie. But it has to have plot."

"Yeah, not just random pointless fighting," Kagome said. "I can't even -see- those movies but the constant sounds of death get really annoying."

"That's the best part!" Inuyasha said, laughing as Miroku imitated the sound of someone dying from choking on poison. Sango kicked him and he fell over, still pretending like he was dying, but this time from a broken heart.

"Oh, Sango my love, how could you forsake me so?" he asked, his wide grin betraying him. Sango smiled sweetly down at him and kicked him again, sending Inuyasha and Kagome into fits of laughter.

"Okay, so we're going to have candy, pop and pizza, some movies, and...a few games," Sango said. "How do you guys feel about Twister?"

"You've got to be kidding me," Kagome said. "There's no bloody way I could see the lovely coloured dots."

"We could help you out," Miroku suggested. "Like, one person could spin the dial thing and then give you direction."

"That could work," Kagome admitted. "I used to love that game." She smiled, obviously remembering good times.

"What else are you planning?" Inuyasha asked, looking skeptically at Sango. She grinned secretively.

"That's for me to know and you to find out," she said, teasingly. "And now, we should probably get ready for classes. Lunch is almost over."

Miroku looked at Sango's watch and nodded. "She's right, let's go," he said, holding on to Sango's arm and half-steering her away. Inuyasha laughed.

"They're cute together," he said, "and for me, that's saying a lot."

Kagome snickered. "Oh come on, Mr. Cute," she teased. "Let's get to class." She held out her hand and Inuyasha took it, leading her into the building.

* * *

After school, Sango was leading Kagome out of the building. When they were safe from the eyes of others, Kagome pulled her best friend aside. "Tell me everything," the blind girl said.

"Tell you everything about what?" Sango asked, a little shocked.

"What are you planning?" Kagome asked. Sango opened her mouth to protest but Kagome interrupted her. "No, hear me out: if you tell me what you're planning then I could play along. If I'm sitting there and you innocently suggest something, both me and Inuyasha will be able to tell that you're lying. You know you can't keep secrets from me."

Sango closed her mouth, knowing that Kagome was telling the truth. She was uncannily skilled at detecting lies; so was Inuyasha, but if Kagome was playing along with her tricks, then they could dismiss him as paranoid.

"Tell me what your plans are, and I'll help them work," Kagome said. "Come on, please! I could even suggest some things."

"You're admitting that you like him, then?" Sango asked. Kagome gasped. "You can't say that you're asking me to help you."

"I'm not asking -you- to help -me-, it's the other way around," Kagome said. "I'm offering my help."

"You're offering to help me bring you and Inuyasha together?" Sango summarized skeptically. "That doesn't make a lot of sense."

Kagome sighed, suddenly feeling deflated. "Fine," she said, her voice sounding resigned. "I'll admit it."

"Say it..." Sango said, almost threateningly. Kagome grinned.

"Fine," she said. "I like him. I like Inuyasha."

"Finally!" Sango exclaimed, dancing around on the spot. "I got her to admit it! I won!" She did a little celebratory jig, circling around. "Okay, here are my plans," she said, leaning down and whispering into Kagome's ear. As she detailed her plot, Kagome's face got consistently redder, but she was smiling. When Sango was finished, she was grinning from ear to ear.

"You're an evil genius."

* * *

He was sitting in the dark room, spinning around and around in his chair as he always did when he was thinking something through. As per usual, the door was closed and the blinds were drawn, leaving him in near-total darkness. The only thing that was different was the fact that the phone was unplugged, so that it would not interrupt his chain of thought.

_Cameron Drake High School..._ he thought to himself. _I've heard that name before. But from where?_

His thoughts were interrupted by a knock on his door. He looked up at it, snarling. "Who is it?" he asked viciously. The voice that answered him was nervous, stammering.

"...I've...I've brought a message, sir," the voice said, even more high-pitched than usual. "Very sorry to disturb you, sir."

"Then why are you doing it?" he snarled.

"It's important, sir..." the voice whispered. "It's about your next job, sir. The girl called again, sir, and said that the target had changed...apparently some information was brought to her that had been hidden before, sir."

"And who is the new target?"

"That's what...that's what bothers me, sir...I don't know if you want to hear it, it might bother you...are you in a particularly calm mood?"

He snarled again, his fingernails digging into the hard wood of the table in front of him. "The longer you talk to me, the less calm I get."

"Oh...oh...okay," the voice stammered. "The new target...he...the new tar-"

"Just get on with it!" he shouted at the closed door.

"Inuyasha," the voice admitted, "is the new target."

**Author's Note: Hey again! Sorry for the shorter-than-usual chapter, but it was all important and I thought this was a good spot to end it at. You guys are the best! Really! I love you all. :D**

**WE CAN HIT 300 REVIEWS! I KNOW WE CAN! WE'RE NOT FAR AT ALL!**


	13. Chapter 12: Party Time!

**Author's Note: Wow...so many reviews...I love you all! You're so awesome. :P**

**Now, unfortunately I don't have a lot of time to write, but I managed to get this chapter finished! There's quite a bit of fluff, so those of you that love fluff will be glad. :D**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Twister,or pretty much anything with a brand name listed in this fanfic.**

**On with the story!**

**Chapter 12: **_Party Time!_

"Sango, if you call me one more time, I'm going to have to walk right over to your house and poke you!" Kagome said, exasperated, her ear sore from holding the phone against it for so long. Sango had called her every five minutes for the past hour or so, making sure that she had everything ready and wouldn't be late and what if she needed a ride and do you need any makeup or jewelry? In any case, Kagome had everything completely ready and was getting a little tired of her friend's constant badgering. She had been told that she was wearing a spaghetti strap lavender top with a purple-bead necklace and black jeans. Apparently she looked good in the outfit.

"Okay, Kagome, we're ready to go," her mother called from down the stairs. Kagome's heart skipped a beat as she found herself imagining herself, sitting in Sango's house beside Inuyasha, maybe playing some sort of game, or even just sitting there. To feel his warm presence beside her...

She mentally shook herself, told herself to wake up. _Pull yourself together,_ she said. _Heprobably doesn't like you. So just stop thinking about him that way._

She steeled herself and walked to her bedroom door, making her way down the stairs and along the route to the kitchen that she knew so well. She could hear her mother bustling about, looking for her car keys, and then hurrying over to Kagome and fixing some small imperfection in her hair. "You look wonderful, my dear," she said, and Kagome knew she was beaming. She smiled back.

"Thanks, mum, but can we just go?" she asked. Her mother laughed.

"Of course. I wouldn't keep you away from your friends for any longer than necessary," she said, a knowing tone in her voice. Kagome rolled her eyes.

"I don't have a crush on him," she said defiantly.

"Of course you don't. Come on, let's go," her mother said, wrapping her arm around her daughter's shoulders and directing her towards the car.

It didn't take very long for them to pull to a halt in front of Sango's house. Sango herself was waiting in the front door with Miroku hidden in a closet and Inuyasha behind a coat rack, temporarily forgetting that Kagome was blind anyways. Sango saw Kagome coming and signaled to the two boys, who had to stifle their snickers. "Almost here...approaching doorway..." Sango whispered, then smiled widely when the doorbell rang. She swung it open and exclaimed "Kagome!"

Kagome grinned and waved. "Anyone else here yet?" she asked.

"Nope. You're first. You're early!"

"Yeah, well, you just kept calling me!" Kagome exclaimed. "I swear, my ear hurts." Sango chuckled.

"Come on, let's go downstairs," Sango said, grabbing Kagome by the hand and beginning to lead her towards the basement. Kagome paused, looking around; in the direction of Inuyasha. "What's up?" Sango asked, noting where she was looking.

"I heard something," Kagome replied, letting go of Sango's hand and moving towards the coat rack. Inuyasha shrank down into the shadows, coiling up.

From Kagome's perspective, she was moving through nothingness towards a scuffling sound she had heard, and then all of the sudden something had been hurled against her stomach, throwing her backwards onto the floor; and it was laughing.

From Inuyasha's perspective, Kagome had come just within range and he had pushed off against the wall, toppling her over and knocking her to the floor, laughing at her utterly shocked expression as her hands immediately flew to his face.

"Inuyasha!" she said, sitting up and pushing Inuyasha off her. "What...Sango, you liar!" she accused, a grin on her face. Sango laughed maliciously.

"Sorry, Kags, but I just couldn't help it," she said. "Miroku's here too."

"I must say you made a wonderful entrance," Miroku said, majestically sweeping his arms in front of him. "Quite frankly, I'm surprised you didn't scream."

"When you're friends with four people as crazy as you guys are, you get used to things like this happening," Kagome said, taking the hand that Inuyasha held out to her and pulling herself up.

"Well, now that that's over and done with, what do we want to do first?" Sango asked. "There's games like Twister, maybe Truth or Dare, or Trunk; and then we have movies, and food, and party stuff...maybe hide and seek..." Sango's eyes glazed over somewhat as she thought of all the possible activities.

"What's Trunk?" Inuyasha asked. "I really don't like the sound of that one."

"I have a costume trunk," Sango explained. "You have to reach in a hat and pull out a number at random, and then put on the costume that corresponds to that number."

"That sounds stupid," Inuyasha snorted.

"It sounds funny," Kagome countered. "You guys would have to describe them to me."

"But of course," Miroku agreed. "We must keep that one in mind, but right now I'm in the mood for some Twister. And after that maybe some other games, and at the end a movie. With, of course, junk food throughout the whole affair."

"Sounds good to me," Sango said. "I recently got this Twister computer program that'll spin a wheel on its own and say "Player 1, left foot green," or whatever, so we can all play. Kagome, are you going to need help?"

"No, I have experience with Twister," she said. "So long as I'm on the end with the red on the left and the green on the right, I know where all the dots are."

"Sounds good, then," Sango said, winking at Miroku. "Off we go."

The four of them went down the carpeted stairs into the basement, which was a warm and brightly lit affair. There was a white carpet on the ground and the walls were painted a kind of off-white colour, and there was a white stucco ceiling. The walls were bare. Sango grabbed the Twister box and led Kagome into the middle of the room. The two girls spread out the Twister mat between them and Inuyasha powered up the computer in the corner. Miroku plugged in the speakers.

"All set on this end," Sango said, smiling at Miroku and Inuyasha.

"Ready for takeoff," Inuyasha announced, pressing a button on the program. "It's going to give us two minutes to get ready." Sango steered Kagome over to her place on the mat and then assumed her own position opposite her. Miroku and Inuyasha took the sides.

"I'm player one," Sango said. "Miroku, you're two: Kagome, three, Inuyasha four. Okay?"

"No problems here," Inuyasha said, rubbing his hands together. "Twister is a piece of cake."

"Player one, left foot green," the computer announced.

"Oh, that's easy," Sango said, placing her left foot on the leftmost dot. The computer allowed some time to pass before the next declaration.

"Player two, right hand yellow." Miroku followed the instructions.

"Player three, right hand green." Kagome did so, placing her hand in the exact centre of the circle.

"Player four, left hand green."

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me; that's on the other side of the bloody board!" Inuyasha exclaimed, reaching over all the other dots to put his left hand on a green one.

There were a couple more rounds before things started to get interesting.

"Player one, right foot yellow," the computer announced, and Sango had to put her foot underneath Miroku in order to get to a yellow dot. "Player two, left hand red," placed Miroku over Inuyasha's foot. "Player three, left foot blue," forced Kagome to stretch out pretty far, and then "Player four, right hand green," made Inuyasha reach over her stomach. They were all effectively tangled.

"What the hell is this?" Inuyasha grumbled. "Some stupid computer making us all look like idiots."

"It's the game, idiot," Miroku retorted. After a few more rounds Miroku found himself with most of his weight on one arm.

"Augh, I can't do this," he said, his arm shaking under the pressure. "Guys..."

"Don't do it!" Sango exclaimed. "You'll take us all down with you!"

"I...can't..." Miroku said, with a healthy heaping of melodramatics. "Ate...too many cookies..." And with that, he fell over, taking everybody else with him. Inuyasha was sprawled over Kagome's stomach and waist, with Miroku across his legs and Sango lying on her back with Miroku's shoulders under hers.

"You idiot," Sango joked, poking Miroku in the head. "Okay, get up."

"Can't," he replied. "You weigh too much."

SLAP.

"It's true," Miroku asserted. "Either that or I'm just a weakling," he quickly corrected, seeing Sang raise her hand again. "Of course, you'll probably take the latter."

"Of course," Sango said, picking herself up and smiling at the sight; Kagome, Inuyasha and Miroku were tangled almost beyond help. "Should I call a doctor or something?" she asked, grinning widely. Inuyasha glared at her but couldn't think of much aside from the fact that he was practically lying on Kagome.

She, too, was very focused on that fact, but for a slightly different reason; she could hardly breath. She tried to squirm out of it but failed.

"Inuyasha," she began. "Get off me, too heavy."

"You sound like Miroku," Inuyasha grumbled, not noticing her shortness of breath.

"Can't breath," she said, her voice reduced to a half-whisper as she tried again to get out from under Inuyasha. This time Inuyasha looked at her and noticed that he was probably crushing her lungs. He quickly put his arms under him and lifted himself up from her, but couldn't actually stand because Miroku was refusing to; and with Miroku on his legs it was difficult to get his balance.

"Better?" he asked Kagome, whose face was now directly beneath him. Miroku was grinning, not moving from his position on Inuyasha, enjoying seeing the two of them so obviously embarrassed. Both of their faces were beet red.

"Yeah, thanks," she replied, smiling up at him and moving herself out of the way. When she had managed to free herself from her previous position, Inuyasha put his hands where she had been and violently pushed upwards, sending Miroku spinning away. He fell onto the ground, rubbing his shoulder where he had landed.

"Aww, that was unnecessary," Miroku said, looking gloomily up at Inuyasha, who snorted.

"Feh," he said, putting his hands on his hips. "You deserved it." Kagome grinned, looking over at Sango.

"I get the feeling that Inuyasha's not going to want to play any more Twister," she observed. Inuyasha nodded.

"Stupid game," he muttered under his breath.

"Point proven. So, what next?" Sango asked.

"I'm tired of physical activity," Miroku said, rubbing his shoulder for added emphasis. "Inuyasha is evil."

"That may be true, but -you're- the one that didn't get off me until I had to throw you off," Inuyasha said. "You're a horrible manipulator."

"How so?" Miroku asked, looking up at Inuyasha with mockingly innocent eyes. Inuyasha grumbled.

"You obviously knew I couldn't throw you off without moving."

"Oh, and if you moved you might have accidentally crushed Kagome, is that it?" Miroku summarized, grinning. Inuyasha's face went red again and he approached Miroku, looking as though he was ready to throttle the other boy. Sango cut in before the angry half-demon could do any real damage.

"Well, if Miroku doesn't want to do any physical activity, Truth or Dare sounds like a good alternative," she said. "Who'll go first?"

"Oooh, I will," Miroku said. "Kagome! Truth, dare, or double dare?"

"Aren't there usually more options, like promise to repeat, fire in the barn, cat in the hole, all that stuff?" Kagome asked.

"Yeah, but they suck," Sango explained. "We cut it down to the good stuff."

Kagome sighed. "All right," she said, defeated. "Umm...truth."

Miroku paused, thinking, rubbing his chin. "Did you enjoy the Twister game? The end of it included?"

Kagome hesitated, her face going a little red. "Yeah," she finally answered. Inuyasha flushed. "I like Twister," she said, as if saving face. "Sango. Truth, dare, double dare?"

Sango grinned evilly. "Double dare."

"Crap, I hate that..." Kagome said. "That means you and I both have to do the dare, right?" Sango nodded, then remembered that Kagome was blind and said 'yes' out loud. "Okay...um..." She suddenly wore a mischievous expression on her face. "Dance like a ballerina fairy."

Sango gasped. "What!" she exclaimed. "You can't possibly expect me to do that? And you have to do it too," she added.

"Yeah, but I don't really care and I know you'll hate it," Kagome explained, still grinning evilly as she stood up and did a little fairy dance. Miroku and Inuyasha clapped, then looked expectantly at Sango.

"Oh, fine," she said, standing up resentfully and doing a little jig on the spot. Inuyasha and Miroku cheered and Miroku hooted a bit, earning himself a hard slap from Sango. He didn't seem to notice it; both boys were virtually rolling on the floor with laughter.

"Shut up," Sango said. "Inuyasha. Truth, dare, double dare."

"Dare, always," he said, grinning widely. Sango's eyes flashed.

"Let Kagome rub your ears for five minutes," she said, without hesitation, as if she had been planning this for a long time. Inuyasha growled at her.

"That's evil," he said, but Sango was already leading Kagome over to Inuyasha, and she sat down and leaned against him, raising her hand to his head.

"Thankies, Sango," she said, almost laughing out loud as the low rumble of happiness came from Inuyasha's chest when she began to scratch at his abominably cute dog-ears.

"Truth, dare, or double dare, Miss Ear-Scratcher," he grumbled, trying to sound upset but only achieving a slightly darkened cheery tone. Kagome laughed.

"Dare, then, since you seem to love them so much," she answered, still happily rubbing Inuyasha's ears. "Four more minutes of this."

"I dare you to stop scratching my ears," he said defiantly.

"You can't contradict previous dares," Sango interrupted, smiling. "You need something better than that."

"I need to go to the bathroom," Miroku announced, rather suddenly. "Sango, can you show me where it is?"

Sango looked at him skeptically, but shrugged and led him up the stairs into the main floor. Inuyasha listened as they walked away and then turned to face Kagome. She stopped rubbing his ears, smiling.

"Do you really hate it that much?" she asked, patting his head remorsefully. Inuyasha laughed, leaning a little closer to her.

"Nah, it's not that bad," he said and she grinned widely, quickly giving him a hug.

"I thought so," she said happily. "Now, are you going to give me a dare or what?" She turned her face so she was looking up into Inuyasha's eyes. The fact that she was staring straight at him without being able to see him unnerved Inuyasha a little bit, but only for a moment; he was distracted by how close he was to Kagome, his face maybe ten inches from hers. He smiled lightly; yeah, there was one dare that he'd love to give - but he couldn't. He still doubted the fact that she liked him; he was still trying to convince himself that he -didn't- want to kiss her.

"I dare you to tell me what you're thinking right now," Inuyasha said. Kagome shook her head.

"That's not a dare, that's a truth," she said.

"No it's not; a dare is something that you don't want to do but would amuse the people around you," Inuyasha retorted. "You obviously don't want to tell me what you're thinking, but I would like to know."

Kagome leaned against him, hesitating. "I was thinking of the decline of bravery and chivalry on the part of males," she answered, after a few moments of silence. "How times have changed."

"How so?" Inuyasha asked, intrigued by her answer.

"Well," Kagome began, "in the past, if an opportunity presented itself to someone, they would be brave enough to take a chance and do something." Something glinted in her eyes as she looked up at Inuyasha; he recognized the same look that she had given him that time when they were sitting outside in the storm; when she got a flash of sight and recognized him.

"Did you just see me?" Inuyasha asked, unnerved again, and the doubt about her feelings began to fade from his mind.

"Does it matter?" Kagome answered. "Whether or not I can see you, the chance is still there."

Inuyasha smiled, hearing hopeful tones in her voice. "What if the problem isn't a lack of bravery, but supreme chivalry in the form of not wanting to take a chance that could hurt someone else?"

Miroku and Sango, listening to the conversation at the top of the stairs, found themselves very confused. What on earth were those two talking about?

"Then the problem may not be a lack of bravery, but a lack of faith," Kagome answered.

"Is he going to kiss her or what?" Miroku whispered. Sango elbowed him in the side, silently telling him to shut up.

"But is that lack of faith misplaced?" Inuyasha asked, oblivious to the fact that Miroku and Sango were hanging on to his every word.

"Definitely," Kagome replied. The doubt in her own mind had all but faded away into nothingness. Her thoughts were running along the same lines as Miroku's were.

Inuyasha leaned in a bit closer to her, with Miroku and Sango silently cheering him on. His face was now mere inches from Kagome.

"Can you see me now?" he whispered. Kagome grinned.

"It doesn't matter very much, now does it?" she replied. "I mean, doesn't-"

Inuyasha cut her off by moving his face quickly closer to Kagome, bringing his lips in contact with hers. Miroku and Sango, watching from their own secluded place at the top of the stairs, both punched the air at the exact same time. Finally! They had been waiting for so long. As if in celebration, Miroku gave Sango a quick kiss of his own.

When Inuyasha and Kagome finally pulled away from Kagome, the girl was beaming. "Turns out that chivalry's not dead after all," she said. Inuyasha laughed.

**Author's Note: Okay, okay. That chapter was nothing but pure fluff. I had to get it out of my system, though, and now I need your advice: should the next chapter have a ton of fluff in it as well, or should something plot-ful happen? Give me your ideas! I love hearing from you guys!**


	14. Chapter 13: The Party Goes On

**Author's Note: I have tallied the votes for whether there should be fluff or plot, and have come to the conclusion that it would be best to finish the party, and then have a lovely plotful bit closer to the end. So everyone's happy!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the movies they look through. And, unfortunately, the zombie joke is from the Simpsons. Couldn't help but throw it in.**

**Enjoy the chapter!**

**Chapter 13: **_The Party Goes On_

Inuyasha and Kagome were leaning against each other, both with large smiles on their faces, when Miroku and Sango descended the stairs, each trying to hide their glee. Sango was doing a much better job of it than Miroku was; the other boy had to stop and turn away sometimes in order to suppress a giggle.

"What's wrong with him?" Inuyasha asked, motioning towards Miroku. Sango shrugged.

"He's been like that since he came out of the bathroom," she answered, using her best innocent voice. "Quite frankly, I do -not- want to know what he was doing in there."

Kagome giggled and Miroku glared at Sango. "Hey," he said. "For your information, I was-"

"WE DON'T WANT TO KNOW," the three of them shouted, shocking Miroku into silence. He almost fell over, but caught himself at the last minute and looked sheepishly at his three friends.

"Okay, okay, no need to be so loud," he said, grinning. "Now...what's next? Movie? More Twister, perhaps? Or maybe another round of that oddly exciting game known as Truth-or-Dare?"

Sango elbowed him, but neither Inuyasha nor Kagome seemed to be paying much attention to Miroku's antics; their eyes were somewhat glazed over as they fell into one of their most recent memories. Sango rolled her eyes, now knowing how Kagome had felt when she had come home from her date with Miroku, ecstatic over the kiss. She made a mental note to talk to Kagome later and get all the details that she may have missed from her perch on the stairs.

"A movie, then?" Miroku said, interrupting their thoughts. "Hmm...well, what do we have?"

Sango cleared her throat. "Well, I've got a lot of movies, so we have to pick a genre before we go into actual titles." She walked over to a closet and opened it up, revealing a huge pile of DVDs and VHSs. "We've got Comedy, Action, Drama, Romance-"

"Chick flicks," Miroku and Inuyasha both said at the same time, rolling their eyes. Kagome and Sango glared at them.

"Suspence, Mystery, Horror...all that jazz," Sango finished, ignoring the boys' interruption.

"Horror!" Inuyasha exclaimed. "I love a good scary flick."

Sitting next to him, Kagome shivered. "Oh, those are so creepy," she said. "The sounds alone are enough to give me nightmares."

Miroku rolled his eyes. "Aw, come on, I love a good scary movie. And it might give us ideas for revenge on Kikyou!"

"What, like sending an army of undead ghost people to pummel her into the pavement?" Sango suggested sarcastically. "You won't get many realistic ideas from a horror."

"The undead thing isn't such a bad idea, actually," Inuyasha said, standing up and holding his arms out in front of him like a zombie. "Need...brains..." he said in a low voice, approaching Kagome. "Brains..." He stood next to her and put his hands on her head.

"Brains?" he asked, shaking his head and moving on. "I need...brains..."

"Hey!" Kagome exclaimed, her hands on her hips. Sango laughed.

"Okay, okay, we'll do a scary movie," she said. Inuyasha did a celebratory jig and ran over to the cupboard, looking over the pile of scary movies, picking them up at random and discarding them if he didn't like them, and holding onto them if he did. He read their titles aloud as he scanned through them.

"The Ring...The Grudge...The Sixth Sense, what? You have that in horror?" he asked. "That's not a scary movie."

"I didn't sort them, my mother did," Sango said. "Just find one you like."

Inuyasha shook his head and turned back to the movie-pile. "Birds...Frankenstein...wow, these are old."

"Can we just pick one and get on with it?" Sango asked. "I'm going to go get the chips and pop. You three just pick something."

Inuyasha picked The Grudge. "This one's not too creepy, Kagome," he said, holding the movie and reading the brief description on the back. "The Grudge. Some dead kid's getting revenge...or something...yeah."

"Whatever," Kagome said, lying on her back on the carpet and staring at the ceiling. "At least I won't be able to see all the creepy parts."

Inuyasha snickered. "Don't worry, I'll be glad to describe them to you in vivid detail."

Kagome smiled, still looking up at the ceiling, apparently lost in thought. Inuyasha walked over to her and poked her in the stomach. She didn't seem to care.

"Miroku, get your lazy ass over here and help me with the food," Sango called. Miroku obediently walked towards her voice, leaving Inuyasha and Kagome in the room.

"What's up?" Inuyasha asked, noticing her far-away expression.

"No, just...thinking," she said.

"Not more riddles again," Inuyasha muttered. Kagome smiled.

"Nah, I was just thinking about what'll happen when I can see everything," she said. "I won't have you guys to describe everything to me. I kind of like it just the way it is now, and although it's great to see colours and stuff, I can't help but wonder about how my life is going to change."

"What, you don't want to get your sight back?" Inuyasha asked, not quite understanding what he was hearing, He sat down next to her and poked her in the stomach again. She swatted his and away.

"No, that's not what I'm saying; it'll be great to be able to see you guys. Just...I don't know. People fear the unknown, right? The whole 'scary-movie' thing made me remember that. For me, the whole world is unknown. It's probably changed since I was younger. Or my memories have changed."

She sat up, pulling her knees up to her chest. Inuyasha smiled, finally understanding what she was saying.

"So it's scary, having your whole life change again?" he asked, moving closer to her. "You don't have to worry about that. You've got Miroku and Sango and me. We'll all help you through it. If you're scared, I'll still be here."

He put an arm around her shoulders and she smiled and leaned in to him. Inuyasha noticed there were faint tears in her eyes. "Don't worry about it," he said, his voice quiet, soothing. "Everything will be great."

"I know," Kagome said.

"We've got the food!" Miroku announced, striding into the room holding a ridiculously large amount of chip bags. "All kinds of junk to make your waist expand."

Inuyasha stood up and took Kagome's hand, leading her over to the television room. There was a large comfortable-looking couch with leg rests facing a relatively large television screen mounted on the wall.

"Oooooh, flatscreen," Inuyasha said, taking a place on the end of the couch. Kagome sat next to him, Sango next to her, and Miroku on the other end. "Is it plasma?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Sango said, sounding confused. She loaded the DVD into the DVD player and turned on the television.

The good thing about watching scary movies when you're blind is that a lot of the effect is created by the sound alone; you'll have suspenseful, eerie music, and then when everybody else sees the monster jump out from behind a wall the music gets really loud and scary, so it's just as frightening and surprising if you have your eyes closed as it would be if they were open. So, by the end of the movie, Sango was holding on to Miroku's hand very tightly, and Kagome had moved closer to Inuyasha and buried her head in his shoulder. When the movie ended nobody moved for a bit; unlike other genres, horror films rarely have a comforting ending.

Kagome was the one to break the silence. "This one's not too creepy, Kagome," she said mockingly, quoting Inuyasha earlier on in the party. "Some dead kid getting revenge...or something...yeah." Her voice was muffled because her head was still on Inuyasha's shoulder. He laughed.

"Okay, okay, it was different from what I expected, but at least it's not so bad that you'll get nightmares," he said.

"We'll just have to wait and see, now won't we?" Kagome answered, sitting up and rubbing her eyes. "There is no way that I'm going to be able to eat dinner after having so much horrible junk food."

"I bet that our parents aren't exactly expecting us to go home with appetites," Miroku commented. Sango smiled.

"I know my mom's not," she agreed, standing up from the couch and stretching. "It's been a long time since I've seen a thriller."

"But no ideas for Kikyou," Inuyasha noted, a sad tone in his voice. "Unless we hire some dead kids to go up to her and chase her around making that weird throaty noise..." He leaned over to Kagome and make the throaty noise that, in the movie, signified that the dead kid was going to come into play; Kagome shrieked and punched him in the nose. Shocked, Inuyasha raised his hands to his face.

"Omigosh, Kagome," Sango said, leaning over Kagome to see that there was a bit of blood coming out of Inuyasha's nose. "I've been dying to do that for the longest time. No fair that -you- should break his nose before I got a chance to."

"I...I what?" Kagome asked, looking up at Inuyasha. "Oh, no, I couldn't have...did I really?"

"No, no, it's okay," Inuyasha said, wiping the blood on his sleeve. "You just made me bleed a little bit. Nothing's broken."

Sango swore under her breath. "Aw, and here I was getting my hopes up."

"Well, you deserved it," Kagome said defiantly, looking at Inuyasha with a grin on my face. He growled at her.

"Well, maybe -you- deserve a punch in the face as well," he said threateningly. Kagome shrieked again and scooted across the couch as far as she could, ending up next to Sango and Miroku.

"Oh, there's no way -I- am getting involved in this," Miroku said, standing up from the couch and going on to the other side of the room. Sango followed him, leaving Kagome on her own. She scooted over so she was on the very far side of the couch.

"Noooo...I've been abandoned!" she exclaimed. "Sango, how could you?"

Inuyasha laughed, advancing on Kagome, still making the throaty noise.

"I'll punch you again!" Kagome said.

"No you won't," Inuyasha corrected, grabbing her arms and wrapping them behind her so that she couldn't move. "Got you!" he exclaimed. Kagome squirmed but couldn't get away.

"Go Inuyasha!" Miroku cheered.

"Go Kagome!" Sango shouted. "Come on, Miroku, cheer for the girls!"

"No way," he said. "I'm cheering for the winning team."

"Oh, that makes me feel so much better," Kagome said. She stopped squirming for just enough time for Inuyasha to let his guard down, then violently turned to the right so that Inuyasha, still holding on to her arms, was flung off the couch and onto the floor. However, he hadn't let go of Kagome, so she was dragged down with him, and ended up on her back, looking up at the ceiling, with Inuyasha beneath her. He pushed her off of him.

"That was so not fair," he said, standing up and helping Kagome do the same.

"What are you talking about?" Sango interrupted. "She so creamed you."

"Feh, whatever," Inuyasha said, flapping a hand at Kagome. "She wins."

"Yay!" Kagome exclaimed, dancing a little on the spot. "What's my prize?"

"A climb all the way to the top of the tree at school," Inuyasha replied. "Unfortunately you'll have to get down on your own."

"I don't like that prize," Kagome answered, smiling. "Give me a different one."

"Well, since you seem to hate me so much, I could go and get myself kidnapped," Inuyasha mused. Kagome gasped.

"I don't hate you!" she said, hugging Inuyasha to prove her point. Sango and Miroku laughed.

"Come on, you two lovebugs," Sango said. "We've still got one more game we can play."

"What game?" Miroku asked, clueless as always.

"Trunk," Sango replied.

* * *

"There is no way in hell I'm wearing that...that...abomination," Inuyasha said. And he had been so happy when he had pulled the lucky number 7 out of the hat! But no, of course, the so-called 'lucky' number had to link to the most horrible, disgusting outfit that could be dreamed up. "The Devil himself wouldn't use this as punishment."

"You picked the number, you wear the clothes," Sango said, holding the pink tutu at Inuyasha. "Be thankful that it's only the skirt and the tiara, and not the whole outfit."

"I want a new number."

"That's not how the game works," Sango said, laughing. "Look. You wanted to go first, you got to go first."

"You rigged the game, didn't you?" he accused. Sango raised her hands in the air.

"I'll admit, I was thinking about it, but I actually didn't," she answered. "You chose this outfit all on your own." She held it out to him again. "Go get changed."

"There is no way in hell."

"I'll get Kagome to scratch your ears," Sango threatened. Inuyasha grumbled.

"It'd be better than having to wear -that- thing," he answered. Sango paused, trying to think of a different alternative. Suddenly her face brightened,as she thoughtof the perfect thing.

"Inuyasha, either you wear this outfit, or I get -Miroku- to scratch your ears, and goodness knows he'd enjoy it."

Inuyasha's face blanched and he stared at Sango. "You couldn't be sohorrible as to actually give me such abad choice."

"Pick the lesser of two evils," she said. "The tutu or Miroku."

Inuyasha glared at her, grabbed the disgusting outfit, and put it on over his clothes. Sango had to suppress a giggle at the sight.

"And the tiara," she said, holding out the silver crown-like object. Inuyasha jammed in onto his head.

"I'd rather have Kagome actually break my nose," he said.

"Oh, but imagine how guilty that would make her feel," Sango said, leading him out of the trunk room to where Miroku and Kagome were sitting. When Inuyasha entered their line of sight, Miroku almost fell over laughing.

"Oh...my...gosh," he said between bouts of hysterics. "Kagome...omigosh...Sango...explain..."

"Gladly," Sango said, a malicious grin on her face. "Kagome, Inuyasha stands before you with his silver hair held in place by a lovely silver tiara with inset blue rhinestones and a floral design. Above his ordinary, everyday clothes is a lovely pink tutu with sequins sewn onto it in yet another pretty flower-ful design. The tutu itself is approximately three feet in diameter, and I think it would look much better in yellow, because then it would match his eyes, which are currently giving me death-glares."

"Give me liberty or give me death," Inuyasha muttered, throwing off the outfit. Miroku was still hopelessly lost in giggles. "Let Miroku go next."

The three of them were much more lucky than Inuyasha had been; Miroku had to wear a martial artist's outfit that actually didn't look half bad, Sango had to wear an angel outfit complete with a long, flowing white skirt and fluffy, feathered wings, and Kagome had to wear a sailor outfit with a miniskirt and hat with anchor designs.

"That's so unfair, you guys all got better numbers than me," Inuyasha grumbled. "You're so evil."

"Hey, that's Trunk," Sango said. "I'm never going to forget this day."

"Me neither," Kagome agreed. "I may be blind, but that mental picture was the funniest thing I've seen in years. Sango, I must compliment you on your descriptive abilities."

"Anytime, my good friend, anytime," Sango said, clapping a hand on Kagome's shoulder. Inuyasha growled at them, still fuming.Kagome walked over tohim and gave him a hug.

"Don't worry about it," she said. "Think of it this way. If you were still popular, -everybody- in the school would know about this!"

"That's small comfort," he said dryly, but he felt better now that Kagome was hugging him.

"But comfort nonetheless."

The doorbell rang and Sango's mother shouted down the stairs that all three of their parents had come to pick them up; unfortunately, the party was over.

"See you guys on Monday," Sango said, waving farewell to the three of them. "Bye-bye, Mr. Ballerina."

"I'll get you back at school," he said, making a very rude hand gesture in Sango's direction before she closed the door, laughing.

Every day was an eventful one when one had friends like that.

* * *

The phone was plugged in, this time. He was sitting on his desk, glaring at it. The girl had called again, going over a long list of plans. Everything was so basic; embarrass him, scare him, but don't actually hurt anyone and do any permanent damage. So very basic.

If Inuyasha was at that school, then he was going to make his -own- plans, and that stupid girl wouldn't be able to stop him.

"Sir?" the whimpering voice said, the figure it belonged to standing in the doorway. "Sir, I have Sesshoumaru's phone number, since you asked for it, and...um...yes, I have his phone number."

"Bring it here," he said, holding out his hand. His servant put the little slip of paper in his palm and he closed his fist over it, feeling it crinkle. "Good. I'm sure our Sesshoumaru will want to hear about the events that will soon be unfolding."

"Right, sir," the pathetic voice said. "I'll just be leaving now, sir."

"You do that."

**Author's Note: To all you people who thought it was Sesshoumaru who was the Agency guy...ha! Sorry, I just had to throw in this lovely little plot twist.**

**Anyways. Thanks so much for all your reviews, and keep 'em coming! You're all so awesome. :P**


	15. Chapter 14: What Dance?

**Author's Note: Yay! A new update! Sorry that this one's a teensy bit short, but better to have a short update then no update at all, right?**

**Anyways, tomorrow I'm leaving with my family on a lovely trip, so unfortunately the next update might be a little slow.**

**But in the meantime, I bet we can reach 450 reviews! We're not that far off! We can do it!**

**I love you all for reviewing so much! . :D**

**Chapter 14: **_What dance?_

For Kagome, Sunday had been a blur of phone calls from Sango and happy memories. Her best friend kept calling her, pressing her for more information about the kiss, wondering about how they should have their next party, and when. Kagome couldn't wait until Monday, when she would have school, and be able to see Inuyasha again. After the kiss, she had stopped deluding herself, finally being able to admit that she liked him, maybe just a little bit. All in all, Monday came very quickly.

"Have a good day at school, honey," her mother said, holding out her lunch. Kagome took it.

"Thanks, mum," she said, walking out of the car. She heard her mother wave at her and shout one final good-bye before turning back to the car and driving away. Kagome grinned, hearing Miroku and Sango argue in the distance. She walked towards the sound of their voices, and waved at them when they shouted their greetings.

"What are you two gibbering about?" she asked, when she got within speaking range. Miroku grumbled loudly.

"My lovely Sango, apparently, had no idea that there's a dance after school today," he explained. "And apparently, she refuses to go with me because her mother doesn't know she'll be late."

"Aw, Sango, can't you call her or something?" Kagome asked. "Don't you have a cell phone?"

"Yeah, but she won't like being informed at the last minute like that," Sango said, sadly. "I -do- want to go to the dance, though."

"What's her number?" Kagome asked, taking her own cell phone out of her pocket. Sango stared at her.

"You can't possibly think you'll call her and tell her I'll be late," she said, shocked.

"Why not?" Kagome replied, her left hand on her hip while her right hand held the phone, ready to dial Sango's number. "She can't get mad at me, and I honestly don't think she'll mind too much."

"Does -your- mum know there's a dance tonight?" Miroku asked. "You'll have to call her, too."

"Yeah, I will, but I'll do Sango first," Kagome said. "So, what's her number?"

"I don't like this," Sango admitted, but told Kagome the phone number anyways. She quickly keyed it in and held it against her ear. "Where's Inuyasha?" she asked, as she heard ringtones on the other end.

"Dunno," Miroku replied. "He hasn't shown up yet."

"That's odd," Kagome mused. A cheerful, feminine voice picked up on the other end of the phone call, greeting her. "Hello, is this Sango's mother?" Kagome asked. Hearing a response, she nodded, smiling. "Yes, I'm Kagome," she said. "Look, I was wondering if you would mind if Sango got home late tonight. No, no, you wouldn't have to pick her up, I'm sure my mother would be happy to drive us both home. Yes, that's right. A school dance. Oh, yes? Alright, then. Nice to talk with you. Yes, I'll tell her. Thanks! Bye."

Sango stared at Kagome when she flipped the phone closed. "She said -yes-?" she asked her voice dripping with disbelief.

"She tells you she loves you and not to get drunk. I don't understand what you're so shocked about," Kagome replied. "If she doesn't have to pick you up, wouldn't she be happy about not having to drive here and back?"

"That's true," Miroku agreed. "Hey, here comes Mr. Tutu."

Kagome whirled around. She heard Inuyasha shout at them.

"If one more tutu joke comes out of your pie hole, I'm going to sew it shut." His voice rang across the school grounds, causing many heads to turn in his direction. Miroku grinned widely.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Ballet, but you just looked too good in that outfit for me to get a mental image of you out of my mind," Miroku said. "I think I'm in love," he added, mockingly swooning. Kagome heard the sharp sound of Inuyasha's fist coming into contact with the side of Miroku's head, followed by the characteristic whimper. "It was worth it," Miroku muttered. "Ah, your face; so priceless."

"Oh, shut up," Inuyasha groaned, rolling his eyes. Kagome and Sango laughed.

"So, is Mr. Pretty coming to the dance after school?" Sango asked, flashing a look in Kagome's direction.

"Dance?" Inuyasha repeated, caught off guard. "There's a dance?"

"Yeah, and the three of us can all come," Kagome explained. "I just need to phone my mum, but she'll be fine with it. Come to think of it, I should do that now." She walked off, cell phone in hand, dialing her phone number.

"Since when is there a dance?" Inuyasha asked suspiciously, looking at Miroku. The other boy shrugged innocently.

"It was announced on Friday," he said. "You must have been too caught up in your dreams about Saturday to have been paying attention."

"You should go with Kagome," Sango added. "After the whole affair at the party."

Inuyasha gave her a blank stare. "How do you know?" he asked, sounding for all the world like a clueless boy.

"Kagome's my best friend, we don't keep secrets," Sango explained, sounding bored. "Jeez. Just because boys lack all communication skills doesn't mean that the superior gender must follow in their horrible footsteps."

Miroku scowled. "Aw, my dear Sango, that's like a dagger through my heart." He made a big show of dying dramatically, falling onto the grass. Kagome, walking back from her cell phone call, tripped over him and fell forwards. By reflex Inuyasha lunged forwards and caught her before she hit the ground; she smiled gratefully up at him, regained her balance and scowled at Miroku. She paused to collect her thoughts after coming so suddenly into close proximity to Inuyasha.

"What on earth are you doing on the ground?" she said, after a few moments of awkward silence passed. Sango laughed.

"He's just being an idiot," she said. "Come on, we should all be getting to class. Inuyasha, are you going to the dance or what?"

"Why not?" he replied, smiling. "I wouldn't want to miss out on such a potentially interesting evening."

And with that he took Kagome by the hand and led her towards the building, ready for yet another week of classes.

* * *

By lunchtime, the whole school was buzzing with rumours about the fast-approaching dance. Who was going with who? I heard that Arik is going to ask Kikyou. What would she say? Is she going to blow her top like at lunchtime? I think she's plotting something, I saw her make a few phone calls. I wonder if Arik'll get killed for what he did. 

Various rumours like that.

When they had all been dismissed for lunch, "The Four" took their customary place beneath the large tree that sprouted, tall and proud, from the middle of the school grounds. Miroku had a large grin plastered over his face and was carrying something hidden behind his back. He came later then the rest of his friends, and turned to Sango immediately, after flashing a look at Inuyasha that said loud and clear 'watch and learn'.

"My dearest Sango," he said dramatically, bending down on one knee and sweeping a ruby-red rose from behind his back, holding it out to her as if he was proposing. "Would you give me the grand honour of accompanying me to the dance, as a date?"

Sango blushed furiously; Inuyasha quickly described what was going on to Kagome, who had to stifle a giggle.

"Um...uh...yes?" Sango replied, looking very out-of-sorts as she took the rose and batted Miroku on the head with it. He grinned with such enthusiasm that it bordered on hysterics, and jumped up and did a little celebratory dance before hugging Sango and sitting down to eat his lunch.

"Jeez, you're easy to please," Sango muttered as she took a seat beside him and opened up her own meal. "Yay, peanut butter," she exclaimed, holding the sandwich in front of her.

Inuyasha looked from Miroku to Kagome. "Do you expect me to ask you out like that?" he asked quickly. Kagome smiled.

"Well, if you were as romantic as Miroku then I would be a little worried," she said. "So you can just ask me and that'll be fine."

Inuyasha squirmed on the spot. He had never been good with talking about emotions, preferring to let actions take the place of words. "Can't I just kiss you or something?" he asked. That had always worked with Kikyou.

"No way," Kagome answered. Inuyasha grumbled, shifting his weight from foot to foot as he thought.

"What's so difficult about this?" Miroku asked. "Repeat after me. Kagome Higurashi..."

"Kagome Higurashi..." Inuyasha repeated.

"I was wondering if..."

"I was wondering if..."

"You would be so kind as to..."

"You would be so kind as to..."

"Scratch my ears."

"Scratch my ears - HEY!" Inyuasha said, rounding on a laughing Miroku and punching him for the second time that day. Miroku continued to laugh, as did Kagome, who had walked up behind Inuyasha and ran her fingers through his hair.

"Why yes, I'll be so kind as to scratch your ears," she said. Inuyasha turned away from Miroku and glared at her instead, but couldn't keep it up for very long because of the pleasure of having his ears rubbed.

"Stop it," he said, his voice thick with happiness as a low purring sound came from his chest. Kagome giggled.

"I'll tell you what," Kagome said, happily. "I'll stop scratching your ears when you ask me out to the dance."

"Why do I have to?" Inuyasha asked, being stubborn as always. "We all know what I'm thinking, can't we just go with that?"

"You need the practice," Kagome replied. "There are few other girls that are as understanding as me."

'_But I don't want another girl,'_ Inuyasha thought to himself, before quickly shaking himself out of that particularly disturbing reverie. What was he thinking? He didn't -love- her.

"Well?" Kagome prompted. Inuyasha sighed.

"Kagomewillyougotothedancewithme?"

"Pardon me? Slow that down just a touch."

Inuyasha glared at her. She smiled.

"Kagome, will you go to the dance with me?" he asked, his voice dripping with resentment. Kagome beamed.

"Why, certainly," she answered, ceasing the scratching-of-the-ears and giving Inuyasha a hug instead. "See? That wasn't so difficult."

"Easy for you to say," he muttered, returning the hug. Sango rolled her eyes.

"As entertaining as that was, we need to talk about this," she said with a serious tone. "Kikyou hasn't taken any real revenge on the school yet and this dance is the perfect opportunity to get back at Arik, or worse, Inuyasha."

"Why would she get revenge on -me-?" Inuyasha asked. "Everybody thinks it was Arik's idea."

"She's not stupid, so she knows that Arik could never in a million years tink of something like that, and then successfully pull it off," Sango said. "Andif she didn'trealize that on her own, Arik could've told her."

"It's true," Miroku agreed. "Inuyasha, you should try and stay on your guard. Don't let anything upset you too much, okay?"

The half-demon cracked his knuckles threateningly. "Oh, there's no chance of that," he said maliciously. Miroku couldn't help but shiver. Kagome laughed.

"Come on, we're all friends here," she said, patting Inuyasha on the back. She looked up at the sky. "And there's always the chance that - AUGH!" she suddenly exclaimed, her hands flying to her eyes. Sango noticed that she had been looking directly at the sun. Kagome's knees buckled and she fell to the ground; or would have, if Inuyasha hadn't caught her for the second time that day.

"What's wrong?" he asked, concerned. Kagome frantically wiped away the tears that had formed at the edges of her eyes.

"Nothing...just...crap, that really hurt," she said, her hands still pressed against her eyes. Inuyasha took her palms in his and she leaned against him.

"Wow, bad timing," Sango muttered. "She was looking right at our very own star."

"That even hurts people that are -used- to seeing sunlight," Miroku mused. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah...I'll be fine," she said. All that she had seen was a blazing ball of white, with a little bit ofsapphire at the edges. "Was that...the sky? I saw a little bit of blue...the clearest blue I've ever seen."

Inuyasha looked up at the cloudless sky. "Yeah, that was it," he answered, holding her a little closer to him. "You sure you're okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'll be fine," she replied. "You guys all worry too much."

"Hey, you don't see me fussing," Sango said, grinning. "Ah, well, at least you got hurt now and not during the dance. That would've sucked."

"Yeah, nobody would want to get hurt during a dance," Miroku agreed. "I mean, where's the fun in that?"

Kagome finally pulled away from Inuyasha, her eyes open and sightless once more. "As much as I like the idea of being able to see again, pain is not a good part of it," she mumbled, rubbing her hands against her eyes. "Ouch."

"Ah, well, you have your date with the lovely Inuyasha to look forwards to!" Miroku declared, his voice happy and perky. "Think of it as a good way to end a painful day."

Kagome laughed. "Yeah, it'll be fun. Do they make the room all dark with funny lights and stuff?"

"Yeah," Inuyasha answered. "Depending on the theme they might have a disco ball, or Hallowe'en streamers, or bright flashy lights or whatever. It's kind of neat."

"That's fun," Sango said. "Is it crowded?"

"All dances are crowded," Miroku replied. "Haven't you ever been to one?"

"No," Sango answered simply. Miroku smiled.

"Then we'll have to make your first one memorable, now won't we?" he said suggestively. Sango slapped him. Inuyasha and Kagome laughed.

"What about you, Ms. Sunlight?" Inuyasha asked. "You ever been to a dance before?"

"Once, a long time ago," Kagome replied distantly, lost in some memory or another. "When I could still see. It was more of a kiddy dance then anything else, though; we were only ten, maybe eleven years old."

Inuyasha smiled. "Then I guess we'll have to make this one memorable for you, as well," he announced.

"That could be interesting," Kagome replied, smiling.

"Okay, okay, no icky mush," Miroku muttered. "Let's get ready for class. The time'll pass faster if we have something else to think about."

"Right," Inuyasha agreed, standing up and holding out a hand to Kagome, who took it. "See you guys after school!"

"See you then," Sango agreed, waving in their direction before she left with Miroku. Inuyasha and Kagome followed them, each of them smiling as their hands interlaced.

**Author's Note: Like I said, it's a little bit short, but not too bad. :P**

**Leave reviews! I will love you all forever if we get to 450 reviews before my next update!**


	16. Chapter 15: An Unexpected Guest

**Author's Note: OMIGOSH! WE DID IT! OVER 450 REVIEWS!**

**I love you guys. You're the reason I'm still writing this fic, which I thought in the beginning was purely experimental.**

**A lot of the reviews ask me "Omigosh! Are you near the end of this fic?" and I find myself having difficulty as to how to answer that.**

**When I write, I don't have a set plot. I don't even have set characters most of the time, and I definitely do not have a set ending. The only thing I have planned is the introduction, and even -that- gets messed up usually. So most of my chapters are improv, the product of me sitting down at my computer and listening to music and saying "Geez, I should write a chapter for my Inuyasha fic."**

**So is my story near completion? I don't know. I still have one plot thing in mind, but after that, I might introduce another plot thing, or I might cut it off. It all depends.**

**The astounding amount of reviews I'm getting is making me write more. So, if you want a longer story, reviews are the only way you can get it. :D**

**After all that rambling, I think it's time for the chapter!**

**Here you go.**

**Chapter 15: **_An Unexpected Guest_

The day passed by incredibly slowly. Inuyasha spent the hours staring at the clock, every five minutes telling Kagome the new time. Eventually she got so frustrated with him that she slapped him upside the head and told him to shut up, that she was trying to ignore everything and knowing the time wasn't helping.

He shut up.

Eventually the clock, followed by the eyes of all the teenagers that frequented the halls of Cameron Drake High School, struck gold. Everybody was dismissed and they stood, cheering, from their seats, giving each other high-fives or hugs and immediately beginning their excited gossip about the upcoming event.

Inuyasha went with Kagome to her locker and then went down to his, not bothering to be careful while he stuffed everything in. He would get his homework later, after the dance was done with. He went back up the stairs and found Kagome trying to press her own locker door closed.

"Allow me," he said graciously, pushing past the girl and shoving the locker closed with one hand and snapping the lock shut with the other. "All fixed," he announced, clapping his hands together as a sign of a job well done. The locker looked as if it could explode, with the door almost jumping out of its hinges; but it stayed fast.

"Thank you, Mr. Oh-so-strong," Kagome complimented. Inuyasha blushed a little and Kagome giggled. "Oh, I could actually feel you heat up with embarrassment there."

"Really?" Inuyasha asked, a bit surprised. He had heard that the other senses were heightened if one (like sight) was lost, but that was quite a feat. "That's cool."

"Isn't it though?" she said, poking his ears and turning around. "Where's Sango? Apparently she brought my outfit for the dance to school so I wouldn't have to pick one out. She has so many clothes. It's weird."

"Yeah...Ms. Violent has a girly streak," Inuyasha agreed. "Oh, and speak of the devil - wait, that would be Kikyou - speaking of Sango, here she comes."

Sango practically hopped over to the two of them, Miroku in tow, and two plastic bags in her hands. She held one of them out to Kagome. "Here's yours," she said. Inuyasha tried to take the bag and look inside, but Sango snatched it back. "You'll see it when she's wearing it," she scolded, and shook the bag so Kagome could hear where it was. The blind girl smiled and took the bag.

"Thanks," she said. "Shall we go change?"

"Why not?" Sango agreed, and the two girls walked away from Inuyasha and Miroku, in the direction of the washrooms. The two boys looked at each other and rolled their eyes.

"Women," they muttered.

* * *

Sango looked at the reflections of herself and Kagome. 

"You look great," she commented. "Dark green tank top, plain, with a thin black choker necklace accented by a jade stone in the middle, with black jeans."

"Nice," Kagome agreed. "And you?"

Sango looked herself over. "Light blue long sleeve shirt with V-neck, with a white spaghetti strap underneath so that it layers, gold chain necklace with sapphire pendant, and a navy blue skirt that goes almost to my ankles."

"Also nice," Kagome complimented. "I'm sure you look great."

"Let's compromise; we -both- look great," Sango suggested, and Kagome laughed.

"Okay, I'll agree to that," she said, and pushed Sango out of the door, giggling.

* * *

When the two girls came into view, Inuyasha and Miroku both smiled. They -did- look great. The outfits weren't too flashy, but brought out their body shapes and looked very good on them. 

"My dearest Sango, you look as graceful as a swan," Miroku said. Sango blushed a little.

"Where do you get all these?" she asked, referring to his poetic compliments. Miroku shrugged.

"Natural talent, I guess," he said. "Come on, we must descend the stairs to the basement, where they will have set everything up for the perfect dance." He offered his arm and Sango took it. The two of them looked pointedly at Inuyasha and Kagome, who hadn't moved very much. Miroku cleared his throat and Inuyasha tugged a bit at the collar of his shirt.

"Umm...well...we'd better get going, Kags," he said, taking her hand and leading her towards the stairwell that Miroku and Sango were standing in front of. Kagome rolled her eyes, but could never hope that Inuyasha would be as romantic as Miroku. A compliment would've been nice, though.

As they descended the stairs, an unfamiliar demon scent reached Inuyasha's sensitive nose. He stopped for a bit, reflexively pulling Kagome closer to him.

"What is it?" she asked, almost stumbling over the sudden change of movement and reaching out for the railing, not wanting to fall down the stairs again. Inuyasha just stood still, looking around. The scent was gone.

"Nothing," he muttered, smiling at Kagome. "Thought I smelled something."

"Okay," Kagome said, her voice light. "Come on. Nothing can wreck this night, not even the evil Kikyou."

"Beware the evil Kikyou!" Miroku exclaimed, his voice melodramatically deep and dark. Sango laughed.

Kagome suddenly stopped, looking warily ahead of her. "I can hear the music from here," she said quietly, and Inuyasha could smell fear coming from her.

"What's wrong?" he asked, concerned. "The music's pretty loud."

"Exactly," Kagome muttered, her eyes fluttering. "I won't be able to hear anything."

"So?" Miroku asked, ever the clueless one.

"It's one of my strongest links to the outside world," she said, her hands covering her ears a little bit. "See, right now, the only thing I'm touching is the floor and I can't hear you guys because my hands are over my ears. For all I know somebody could be pointing a gun in my head and I wouldn't know, because I wouldn't hear your gasps."

"I see your point," Miroku muttered, a little taken aback. "That sucks."

"But are you still going to go?" Sango asked. "You don't have to if you don't want to."

"No, I wouldn't do that," Kagome said, smiling. "I want to go, really. I just didn't exactly anticipate how loud it would be."

"Have you ever been to a dance before?" Inuyasha asked with an incredulous tone. Kagome laughed, still slightly nervously.

"Yeah," she said, opening her eyes again. Inuyasha could see the remnants of bad memories behind them, and made a mental note to ask her about it later.

"I'll just have to keep hold on you, then, won't I?" Inuyasha asked, smirking. "Don't worry. We won't let you get lost."

Kagome smiled again, more genuinely this time. "Of course," she said. "I'd never doubt you."

"You'd better not," Sango said, almost threateningly. "Otherwise we'd have to -make- you trust us. By force!"

Kagome laughed. "That's impossible."

"That's what you think," Inuyasha whispered into her ear, leaning in close to her. She jumped, but smiled again.

"Okay, enough of this. Let's get going." Still holding onto Inuyasha's hand, Kagome marched bravely forwards. Her three friends smiled and followed her down the stairs, coming ever closer to the vibrating 'thump, thump, thump' of the music.

* * *

The entire basement had been converted to one huge dance floor. 

All the lights had been turned off and replaced by darklight. The violet lamps hung from the ceiling and only barely illuminated the ground. There were bright coloured lights that swiveled on their posts, casting eye-catching patterns on the floor or the heads of the dancers. It was crowded, but not so crowded that one could hardly move. At one end of the long hallway stood a DJ and the turntable, with a computer to control digital files and the speakers, which were mounted on the walls. Sango had no idea where all this equipment had come from.

"That sounds amazing," Kagome shouted over the loud noise, after receiving her description of her surroundings from Sango. "The perfect environment."

"I'll say," Miroku agreed, taking Sango's hand and leading her into the crowd. "Let's have some fun!" he shouted back to Inuyasha and Kagome. The two of them smirked, and Inuyasha led Kagome towards the middle of the crowd, where Miroku and Sango had started to dance. The crowd didn't notice their arrival, being too caught up in their own thoughts, so for once 'The Four' were assimilated into the general population of the school.

They lost track of time as they danced, Inuyasha always being sure to hold onto one or both of Kagome's hands, so she wouldn't feel lost in the swarm of bodies swaying to the music. All four of them were thoroughly enjoying themselves.

"Boys, get ready to find your dates!" the DJ announced, his voice sounding over the music. "Slow song coming up!" Inuyasha blushed faintly and Kagome laughed again.

"You're going red, aren't you?" she teased. Inuyasha gaped at her.

"You couldn't possibly have felt an increase in heat," he said. "There're way too many people."

"I didn't feel anything, but I know you well enough," she said. "So, you going to ask me to dance or what?"

"You're already my date!" Inuyasha protested. "Isn't one embarrassing moment enough for you?"

Kagome shook her head, smiling widely. Inuyasha sighed, but he knew that there was no way he could beat her.

"Want to dance with me, then?" he asked, inwardly kicking himself.

"I'd love to," Kagome responded, moving closer to him and wrapping her arms around his neck as the rock song faded away, making way for the all-too-popular Slow Dance.

As Inuyasha placed his own hands on Kagome's waist, he looked over at Miroku and Sango, who seemed to be enjoying their own moment of closeness. He was surprised at the fact that Miroku's 'wandering hands' weren't making their way down to Sango's behind, but figured that he had gotten tired of the endless pain she would give him.

Kagome, on the other hand, was having more difficulty controlling where her hands went. Before Inuyasha knew what was happening he felt someone rubbing his ears and glared down at a smiling Kagome.

"Jeez, you never get tired of that, do you?" he asked, but couldn't help the happiness welling up inside him.

"Nope," Kagome said, leaning her head against his chest. Inuyasha sighed, and felt his heart skip a few beats when Kagome stopped rubbing his ears and instead returned her arms to his neck, pulling him a bit closer to her. He was finding it a little bit difficult to concentrate on anything other than the fact that she was standing right in front of him, holding on to him.

She, too, was having similar thoughts. She smiled as she heard his heart beating beneath his chest. It was nice to be so close...she couldn't remember the last time she had been filled with such calm, such peace.

"Kagome?" she heard him say, and looked up at him.

"Yeah, what?" she asked, not knowing that he was leaning in to her, hoping to steal yet another kiss.

But when the door slammed open and the music stopped, he pulled away from her in surprise.

There were a lot of shouts from the end of the hallway where the DJ turntable was situated, and Inuyasha could detect more than just a hint of panic. He stood on tiptoe, trying to see over the heads of all the people in the crowd.

He crouched back down to the ground, pulling Kagome with him, when he saw what was going on.

A man - no, it wasn't a man, he couldn't have been much older than Inuyasha himself - was standing next to the DJ with a gun pointed at his head. He had long black hair and cold blue eyes.

The entire mob of people were beginning to crouch down on the ground, trying to make themselves smaller lest they should be an easy target for the madman with the pistol.

"Nobody move," the boy announced, cocking the gun that was pointed at the DJ. His eyes scanned the crowd and rested on Inuyasha; his silver hair and amber eyes definitely set him apart from the rest of the quivering students. "You," he said threateningly, in Inuyasha's direction. "Come over here."

Kagome clutched Inuyasha's hand as if it was a lifeline. "Is he talking to you?" she whispered.

"Yeah," Inuyasha muttered, not moving from his spot. The boy swung the gun from the DJ's head to Inuyasha's.

"Come here or else I'll shoot you," he said again, his voice louder. A low growl began to sound in Inuyasha's throat.

"Go," Kagome whispered. "I don't want to see you hurt. At least we'll have a chance."

"He might just shoot the rest of you," Inuyasha whispered back, shocked at what he was hearing. He couldn't just leave Kagome behind!

"Just go," Kagome said. "Ask him who he is. What he wants."

"I'm waiting," the boy warned. "Inuyasha, come here."

Inuyasha's head rose up above the crowd. "Who are you and what do you want from me?" he asked, his voice strong and confident as he stood up. The boy with the gun laughed.

"What does it matter?" he asked, his voice humoured. "Ah, well. My name is Kouga. What do I want with you? Well, I'm sure that your older brother would be interested to know that you are alive."

Inuyasha froze. His older brother? How? He was dead.

"He's not dead, Inuyasha," Kouga said, his voice still carrying the humoured note. "In fact, he's living quite pleasantly with a cushy job and big house."

Inuyasha balled his hands into fists and began to walk towards Kouga. "That's it," Kouga called, beckoning to him. "Just come with me and nobody will get hurt."

Kikyou was watching the whole exchange from her spot on the floor with a smirk plastered across her face. Rhia, beside her, looked a little nervous. "What's going on, Kikyou?" she asked. "He has...he has a pistol!"

"Yeah, I know," Kikyou said, having to work hard to avoid bursting out in malicious laughter. "Isn't it great?"

Rhia looked at Kikyou, utterly shocked. "You can't tell me that...you didn't tell this madman to come to our school!"

"Inuyasha deserves this," Kikyou muttered. "Don't worry. He won't be hurt."

At that moment Inuyasha lunged at Kouga, lashing out at him with his claws. Kouga took a step back, pointing the gun at Inuyasha's forehead.

"Don't try anything stupid, Mr. Hero," Kouga teased, shaking the gun a little bit. Inuyasha froze, feeling the cold metal pressed against his skin.

Sango and Miroku had managed to crawl over to Kagome unnoticed, and found her with her knees held close to her chest, shaking. Sango wrapped her arm around Kagome's shoulders.

"Calm down, it's okay, he can take care of himself," Sango said, her voice quiet and a lot calmer than she herself was feeling. Miroku was staring off into space, looking as if he had gone into shock.

"Kill me, then," Inuyasha said defiantly, moving swiftly towards Kouga. "Kouga," Inuyasha spat. The gun didn't fire. Inuyasha realized that Kouga was a tad shocked and took the opportunity to kick upwards, knocking the gun out of Kouga's hands.

The wolf demon immediately recovered, snarling back at Inuyasha. "You think you can beat me?" he growled. Inuyasha growled right back, taking out his claws and lunging at Kouga's face.

"You won't hurt my friends," he shouted. The heads of the students lying on the ground had risen up so they could watch what was going on.

Kouga had leaned to the right, avoiding Inuyasha's attack, and used the hanyou's momentum against him by lifting him slightly and throwing him at the wall. Inyuasha caught himself just before he would have collided with the stone and turned back to Kouga, lunging at him again. This time Kouga wasn't as lucky; he got two cuts on the right side of his face. He raised his hand to the bleeding scratch and then glared at Inuyasha.

"That's it," he roared, making his own lunge towards the half-demon. Inuyasha didn't move away in time and got a long cut in his right arm. He moved out of the way before Kouga could do anymore damage and found himself facing the wolf-demon. They circled around each other, each of them waiting for an opportunity to attack.

Inuyasha never got a chance to.

Kikyou had stood and silently approached them, reaching for the gun lying abandoned on the ground. She had crept up behind Inuyasha, knowing that all of his focus was on Kouga and maybe Kagome. She had taken her own opportunity; Inuyasha was knocked unconscious as Kikyou hit him in the back of the head with the butt of the gun.

"Problem solved," Kouga muttered. Kikyou rounded on him.

"You said nobody would get hurt!" she shouted. The entire student body let out a collective gasp. "You were supposed to stick to the plan!"

"The plan was changed, girlie," Kouga said, his eyes scanning the crowd again. They came to rest on Kagome, flanked by Sango and Miroku. "And I'm sure I'll come back for her," he muttered, mostly to himself.

With that, he lifted Inuyasha from the ground and ran out of the building.

**Author's Note: Ooooh, cliffie! But it's an update, right? Right. :D**

**Anyways. School starts today, and I recently started another story, so that means I have 3 stories to work on as well as homework. Unfortunately updates might be a tad slow.**

**But I won't let this story die, at least not with the amount of reviews I'm getting!**

**I'm positive we could reach 500 reviews with this chapter.**

**Review away!**


	17. Chapter 16: Him

**Author's Note: Wow, this chapter took a looong time to write. I hit a bit of a block with this one; it was hard to write my fanfic when my thoughts were filled with evil math teachers and way too many assignments for anybody's good health.**

**Hope the next one comes out quicker; you can make it happen with all your reviews!**

**Speaking of which, you guys are AWESOME. Way more reviews then I could even have hoped for! Keep them coming; maybe the next chapter'll get done faster.**

**Chapter 16: **_Him_

There were lights flashing, people moving, shadows twisting and transforming, shouts cutting through the air, people sitting, people screaming; it all happened in such a rush, and it was all one big blur of chaos.

He was going away; she could see him moving away, silver hair flashing in the light, looking back at her; and then more movement. In an impossibly short amount of time, he was gone.

Sango and Miroku looked down at her, confused, worried, shocked; the shadows made it difficult to see, the people were moving too fast, there was too much chaos - and then she saw nothing, heard nothing save someone whispering her name; and then everything was gone as she faded away into the blissful calm of unconsciousness.

* * *

"Kagome! Kagome, come on!" Sango exclaimed, leaning over her friend. Kagome had fainted, and Miroku looked as if he might meet the same fate as well.

Everybody in the basement was panicking. There was chaos everywhere as people stood, shouting things intelligibly, running up stairwells in an effort to get away from the place where Kouga had effectively held them all at gunpoint.

Kikyou and Rhia were standing off in their corner. Rhia looked as if she was going to cry, and Kikyou had a shocked expression on her face. Many of the girls that passed her had slapped her hard on the face; it was common knowledge, now, that she had asked a madman to come to their school, and they hated her for it. Kikyou looked at the people rushing past her, wide-eyed as she watched her popularity drain away as quickly as water being held in human hands.

Eventually the basement had been evacuated, leaving only Sango, Miroku, the unconscious Kagome, and Kikyou. Rhia had long since left Kikyou behind, running away with one last glance in her direction, wondering how she could have ever been close to such a monster.

Kikyou was shaking as she walked over to Sango and Miroku, who were still leaning over Kagome, trying to wake her up. Sango saw her coming and glared at her.

"Get out of here before I kill you," she said, a genuine threat. Kikyou didn't move.

"I j-j-just wanted to say s-s-sorry," she stammered, looking warily from Sango to Miroku and back. "It w-w-wasn't supposed to h-h-happen like that."

"Get out of here," Sango repeated, her voice a half-snarl. Kikyou nodded and left, going up the same stairs that everybody else had, leaving the three friends alone.

"Come on, Kagome, wake up," Miroku said, his voice pressing. Kagome stirred, her hands coming up to rub her eyes. She opened them.

"I...I can't see," she said quietly, her voice hoarse. Miroku raised an eyebrow, but Sango ignored the girl's comment and immediately wrapped her in a back-breaking hug.

"Kagome!" she exclaimed. "Oh, thank goodness, I was so worried!"

Kagome seemed kind of numb. "I could see," she said, still quietly. -Now- Sango seemed to register what was going on. She held Kagome an arm's length away from her.

"You could see?" Sango asked. Kagome nodded slowly.

"I saw the whole thing," she said, her voice breaking. Tears came to her eyes. "He's gone, isn't he?"

Sango and Miroku were silent; their lack of response told Kagome their answer. Salty tears ran down her face and landed on the ground as she stood and broke away from Sango and Miroku, walking up the stairs on her own.

Sango and Miroku looked at each other, each of them feeling worried about Inuyasha, but knowing that what Kagome was feeling must be a thousand times worse.

* * *

"How are we going to find him?" Kagome asked. She had somewhat recovered from the initial shock of the whole evening's events, and was currently sitting in front of her locker with Sango and Miroku in front of her.

"I don't know," Sango admitted, leaning against Miroku for a little bit of support.

"Well, one step would be to go outside and -look-, but in all likelihood that wouldn't get us anywhere," Miroku suggested.

"Does Inuyasha have any relatives; like, family, whatever?" Kagome asked. "They might be able to give us some kind of a hint."

"All of his direct family is dead, from the rumours I've heard," Miroku replied. "Apparently he lives with a foster family, and I doubt that they'd be able to give us any actual clues."

"It's still a place to start," Sango countered, "and it's certainly better than just sitting here talking about it. Now, do you know where he lives?"

"Yeah; it's actually not too far from here," Miroku answered. "We could probably walk there."

"I need to phone my mother and tell her what's going on," Kagome said, digging through her pocket for her cell phone. "Sango, Miroku, you might want to do the same."

"True," Sango muttered. Her and Miroku began fumbling for their own phones, and the three friends ignored each other for a few moments as they immersed themselves in their conversations with their parents. The talks required all their attention; they had to keep their parents calm, explain the situation, and convince them that talking to Inuyasha's foster parents was the best course of action.

Needless to say, it was difficult; but in the end the three of them pressed the 'end' button and looked up at each other with weary looks in their eyes.

"I can do it," Sango said.

"Me, too," Miroku and Kagome chorused. "But I need to phone them every five minutes," Kagome added.

"Yeah, I need to do that as well," Sango agreed. "Ah, well."

"Can we please not waste any more time?" Miroku asked, sighing. "I hate to think of what's happening to him."

"Alright, let's get going!"

* * *

It was a cold night. There were no clouds in the sky, and the streetlights were dim, so thousands of pinpoints of light guided the three friends on their way. There was a crescent moon; it seemed to follow them ominously as they went on their way, making sure to look in all directions at once for a telltale flash of silver hair and amber eyes. There was a chill breeze; it made the three of them shiver as they walked along, searching. There were few sounds aside from the occasional rustle of a newspaper skittering across the street; no birds, no animals whatsoever.

All in all, it was a mysterious and foreboding evening.

They refrained from actually calling out "Inuyasha!" wherever they went, as they were a little nervous to be out on their own so late at night; they wouldn't want to alert any of the less desirable passersby to their presence.

After a bit of time had passed, they found themselves turning onto a distinctly residential road; there were cozy-looking houses with bright lights in front of them and neatly-trimmed gardens. Every so often they'd pass a "Beware of Dog" sign, and would have to suppress a sigh or a tear because it reminded them so much of Inuyasha.

They walked for a little while before Miroku put out a hand, signaling for them to stop. They were standing in front of a particularly normal-looking house; there was a garden, a clean-cut lawn, the customary lights in front, and a garage. The lights were on inside the house; Sango and Miroku could see shadowed figures moving behind the yellow curtains.

"This is it," Miroku said, waving a hand in the direction of the building. "His house."

"Should we knock on the door?" Sango asked, fidgeting.

"That would make sense," Miroku answered, gulping. "I don't know. They might be able to help us or something."

"Come on, let's just go in," Kagome said, her tone of voice indicating that she was tired of just standing around. She took Sango by the hand and led her towards the doorway.

A flash of sight hit her; she saw the yellow tinged curtains, the walls of the house, the door growing larger as she walked up to it. The earth bobbed up and down as she walked; a strange sensation indeed, but right now, it was insignificant. She needed to find Inuyasha; she needed to talk to his family.

She barely took any notice when the colours gave way to the infinite blackness that she had grown so accustomed to over the years.

Miroku followed the two girls, slightly amazed at the sudden change in Kagome. Now -she- was the one leading Sango around, taking charge. It was slightly funny, this reversal of roles.

They reached the welcoming doorway and paused in front of it. Kagome turned to Sango. "Well, are you going to knock?"

Sango grunted in reply and raised her fist to the door, pounding on it three times, forgetting about the existence of a doorbell. The three friends could hear shuffling footsteps from within the building, and the curtained windows on either side of the door were darkened by a shadowed figure pausing in front of the door.

Then the wooden portal opened, and they found themselves standing in front of a tired-looking woman with long, straight brown hair and a plain but pretty look to her. Her face was lined with worry and when she saw the three teenagers in her doorway, her hand flew to her mouth.

"Is this about Inu?" she asked, her voice quiet and hoarse. She had probably been crying.

"Ummm...yes," Miroku said awkwardly, shifting his weight from foot to foot. "Umm...we were...yeah..."

Sango rolled her eyes. "We were wondering if we could ask you just a few questions. You probably would like to sit down."

"Yes, of course; come right in," the woman said, opening the door for Kagome. When the blind girl just stood there, Inuyasha's foster mother blinked. "My dear, you can come in."

"Oh, you're standing aside now?" Kagome asked, ever oblivious. "Sorry." She took a step forwards, guided from behind by Sango, who had a hand on her back. Inuyasha's foster mother looked confused. "I'm blind," Kagome said simply. Again, a hand went to the woman's mouth.

"Oh, dear, I'm so sorry," she apologized. Kagome grinned.

"Don't worry about it. Right now, we just need to worry about Inu."

"Yes, of course."

When the three teenagers had been settled on the couch and the woman as well as the man who must have been Inuyasha's foster father were sitting opposite them, Sango cleared her throat.

"Now, I'm not sure whether or not you two know exactly what happened tonight," she began. "In fact, even -we're- not entirely sure what happened. But the basics are, Inuyasha was kidnapped by a boy named Kouga."

"Kouga," the foster father repeated, as if memorizing the name.

"We were wondering if you know anything - anything at all that could help us find out where he is, where Kouga would have taken him," Sango continued. "Even something as small as a favourite place, or some secluded park, or...you know, anything."

The woman sighed, her eyes heavy with grief. "Well, there is one park pretty close to here," she said, placing her head in her hands. "It's the only one for quite some distance. If he was in a park, that would be it."

"He likes the park, too," Inu's foster father said. "He went there often when he had spare time. It might be...it might be a good place to start."

"Thank you very much, sir," Miroku said, some of his customary grace returned to him. "We'll go look there first, and then come back after we're done. We'll tell you if we've found anything."

"You mean to say you don't think we'll come with you?" the woman exclaimed. "We want to help as well! He's...he's like our son!"

Kagome smiled. "Of course," she said. "We wouldn't deny you the chance to help us look for him."

* * *

Not long after that, the group of five were assembled outside the open gate to the park. It was probably a cheery place by daylight; one could easily imagine children running around the brightly-coloured climbing apparatus. There were many trees around which people probably went if they wanted some quiet, or some time to think. There was a large field with picnic benches scattered around it, and an area that looked something like a wading pool.

In the daylight, it was probably a lot of fun. At nighttime, it was just plain creepy.

"Do you think he'll be here?" Miroku asked, looking around. The moon seemed to be abnormally bright, and it combined with the starlight cast long, mysterious shadows across the grass.

"We should split up and cover more ground," Inuyasha's foster father - whose name, they had learned, was Nik - said. Inuyasha's foster mother (Mara) nodded her head.

"Why not...why not Nik and I go together this way, and you three go the other way?" she suggested.

"I think someone should stay with you two," Kagome said. "Just in case...you know, something happens."

"I'll go," Miroku offered. "You and Sango will be fine on your own. She can take out anyone," he added playfully, elbowing her in the ribs. A sharp slap on the face told him that this was not the time for playing around.

"It's settled then," Sango said, a final tone in her voice. "Come on, Kagome. Let's go."

And with that, the two groups split away from each other, going in opposite directions in order to find Inuyasha and get him back.

* * *

"You doing okay, Kagome?"

"Yeah."

"Are you sure? I mean, like, you and Inuyasha were-"

"I'm fine, Sango."

"Let's just keep looking then."

"Yes, let's."

This conversation came up a number of times. Sango just didn't understand how Kagome could look so calm through all of this. I mean, sure, all of this had to be done, and Kagome certainly couldn't do anything more - but usually, they would -want- to, even if they couldn't.

Sango had a pressing suspicion that Kagome was keeping a lot of her emotions bottled up. She shook her head, sighing - Kagome might not even have admitted to herself that she loved Inyuasha. Sango could see it happening - a different light in her eyes whenever she saw him approach, a different way of smiling at him than at her or Miroku. And Inuyasha, too, was different; but yet again, Sango doubted he could admit his emotions to himself.

"You doing okay, Kagome/"

"Yes."

This time, Sango didn't even bother to try and continue the conversation. The two of them walked in silence.

So when Sango felt a cold hand close over her mouth and consciousness slip away from her, the sudden lack of noise from her end went comepletely unnoticed by Kagome, who just walked on as normal, leaving a silently fallen Sango behind.

A minute later, she realized that Sango's footsteps weren't following her as they should have been. She turned around, put a hand out to try and feel anything weird.

"Sango?" she asked hesitantly, her voice shaking somewhat. "Sango, are you there?"

The same cold hand closed over her own mouth and she fell into the same unconsciousness that Sango had, leaving Miroku, Mara and Nik on their own.

* * *

Everything was blurry. Everything was dark, shadowed; nothing was for certain.

It felt like she was in some kind of room - the walls were grayish, but that might just have been the shadows. There were a few chairs, something that looked like a bed. A shelf with some books on it. Someone might have lived here.

There was someone else in the room, she could feel it; and turning around, she could see him. Taller than her, silver hair, golden eyes -

Again, unconsciousness took her, but not so quickly that she didn't feel strong arms around her, protecting her from the fall.

"Kagome?"

**Author's Note: Okay, I had to end it here for lack of time. I took a looooong time to update, I know, and I'm sorry, but this is kind of how it's going to have to be. School is horribly busy (my math teacher gives us so much homework, he's like Satan reincarnated) but I try to write when I can.**

**In the meantime, your reviews are what's keeping me going, so keep them coming! You guys are so awesome. :P**


	18. Chapter 17: Running Away

**Author's Note: HI GUYS! I'm back! I finally managed to write this chapter amidst truckloads of work from school. Thanks so much for all of your reviews, they're the only things that are keeping me writing! You guys are so awesome!**

**Chapter 17: **_Running Away_

"Kagome?" Inuyasha asked with concern in his eyes, looking down at the girl he held limp in his arms. "Kagome, are you alright?"

She stirred faintly, not opening her eyes. A low moan came from her throat.

"Kagome," Inuyasha said again, in an almost sing-song voice. "Can you hear me?"

Another stir. This time her eyes blinked open. She looked around the room, then up at Inuyasha.

"Is...is someone there?" she asked. Her voice was hoarse and whispery, but it was still a voice. Inuyasha was immediately overcome with relief. He pressed Kagome against himself, wrapping her in a huge hug. She began to cough.

"Inu...Inuyasha?" her voice asked.

"Yeah," the boy replied. "Yeah, I'm here."

She smiled, and blinked her eyes again. "Then I'm safe," she said quietly. Her eyes closed again and Inuyasha heard the change in her breathing. She had fallen asleep.

He set her down on the bed-like thing that was attached to the wall. He wasn't quite sure how she had come to be here; he didn't remember how he himself had gotten there, and when he had woken up on the cement floor of the room, Kagome had been beside him. It hadn't taken long for his energy and good sense to come back. He hadn't been able to piece very much together; the only thing he knew was that he was trapped here. That, and the fact that it was Kouga's fault.

But what did Kouga want with him? He had no way of finding out.

He looked over at Kagome, sleeping peacefully on the couch. It was his fault that she was trapped here, with him. She hadn't done anything wrong.

He thought back to what had happened at the dance. The noise, the lights, him and Kouga fighting. All that he could remember was taking a nasty hit, and then he was in this room with Kagome beside him.

Looking at the girl, he found himself wondering what had happened to Sango and Miroku. Were they trapped somewhere, in another room similar to this one? Maybe they were just sitting at home, wondering where he and Kagome had gone to. Maybe they had no idea that they were even gone.

He began to pace the room, walking from one cement wall to the other, running his hands through his long white hair. What was going to happen to them? What was Kouga trying to do? How long would they be trapped in this place? Where on earth were they?

"Aaaauuugh!" he exclaimed, banging his fist against one of the cement walls. When he pulled away, a long crack marred its surface.

There were too many questions, and not enough answers.

"...Inuyasha?" Kagome's weak voice was enough to send him spinning back to reality, and away from all the doubt surrounding them.

"Yeah, I'm here," he replied, all roughness gone from his voice as he moved towards the bed that Kagome was lying on. He sat down on it, next to her. "Are you alright?"

She smiled dimly. "Yeah, I'll be fine," she said, trying to sit up. She managed to use the cement wall as a support, and when she was properly sitting, her hands went to her head. "Ugh, I feel like someone hit me on the head with a brick."

Inuyasha laughed a bit. At least she was feeling alright. "Can you see anything?" he asked, waving his hand in front of her face. She shook her head in reply.

"Nope. But I -could- see, just a little bit." She looked up at him. "I saw you. It was kind of weird. Everything was blurry, you know?"

"No, I can't say that I do," replied Inuyasha, whose vision was always perfect. "But I can imagine it." He smiled. "Ah, well. It's better than being blind, isn't it?"

"Yeah," Kagome said. "Yeah, it's a lot better."

The two of them sat together in silence for a few moments. Inuyasha opened his mouth to say something, but was interrupted by the sound of footsteps echoing outside of the locked-and-bolted door.

"I wonder who that will be," Inuyasha muttered, sarcasm heavy in his voice.

* * *

"Oh, shit. Oh, this is definitely not good." 

Miroku and Sango were at Sango's house. Inuyasha's foster parents were at the police station. They had ordered the two teenagers home; it was getting far too late for them to be wandering the streets. They had, of course, protested loudly and for a very long time; but, in the end, Sango's parents had been called, and the two of them had been forced to retreat to Sango's house, where they were now pacing the length of her bedroom.

"So, let me get this straight," Sango mused. "Inuyasha and Kagome have both been kidnapped by that Kouga guy. We have no idea where they are. They may or may not be together."

"They'd better be together," Miroku said. "He'll freak out if he thinks she's in danger."

"Yeah, and she won't be able to take care of herself," Sango agreed. "But we have no way of knowing what's going on."

Miroku sat down on Sango's bed, a sullen look in his eyes. "We have no way of finding them," he said sadly. "I guess that all we can do is sit here and hope."

Sango sat down next to him. "We'll think of something," she said. "We can't just give up on them like this."

"What can we do?" Miroku asked loudly, standing up and glaring at Sango. "Obviously we can't just up and give up, but would you rather us go out on the streets and get kidnapped ourselves? If we go out and look for them at this time of night, anything could happen! There are all kinds of weirdos, you could be-"

"Okay, okay, I get it," Sango said, also standing. She placed a hand on Miroku's shoulder to calm him down. He looked up at her, faint tears visible in his eyes. "We'll wait. Maybe the police will find something. We'll wait until morning."

Miroku blinked and all signs of tears were gone. "Okay," he said, sitting back down on the bed. "Okay."

* * *

Inuyasha and Kagome sat on the bed, listening as the footsteps got closer and closer. 

"Who is that?" Kagome asked quietly. "Can you see anything? What's going on?"

"I have no idea," Inuyasha replied. "We can't see anything yet. Just wait a bit."

Kagome clung on to his arm, her eyes squeezed shut as if that would make the eerily echoing footsteps go away. Suddenly, they stopped, instead replaced by the clicking of locks on the other side of the door.

The door swung open and a draft of cold air hit the two of them. As Inuyasha watched, Kouga stepped through the open doorway and closed it shut behind him.

"Well, well, well," he said, in stereotypical evil-guy format. "The two of you have finally come to."

"What do you want with us?" Inuyasha spat. Kouga laughed. Kagome gripped tighter onto Inuyasha's arm.

"I'm just conducting an experiment of sorts," Kouga said. "Trying to see how much time will pass before something happens."

"Before -what- happens?" Inuyasha asked, looking suspiciously at the other boy. Kouga laughed, again.

"That doesn't matter much, now does it?" he countered, grinning widely. "Anyways. I'll leave you two to your own devices. Are you at all hungry?"

"No," Inuyasha growled.

"I'll just leave then," Kouga replied, shrugging. He exited the room. Inuyasha heard the various locks on the other side of the door click shut. The footsteps began to echo down the hallway again, except this time they were moving away from the two of them.

"Inyuasha, what does he want?" Kagome asked, looking in the direction of the door.

"I have no idea."

"How are we going to get out of here?"

"I don't know that either."

Kagome sighed and looked away from him. "You could try and break down the door," she suggested. "Or..."

Her face lit up and she stood from the bed, stretching her hands in front of her and walking straight forwards. Eventually she came into contact with one of the walls. She pressed her ear against it and knocked faintly on the cement.

"Help me out here," she said, gesturing in Inuyasha's general direction. "There might be some kind of hollow spot where it would be easier to break through."

She rapped her knuckles against the cement again. "Nope, this one's solid," she said. Inuyasha moved in front of her and took up a similar position, leaning his ear against the wall and rapping his knuckles against it. Kagome moved forwards along the wall, not realizing he was there, and ran right into him. He smiled and poked her nose.

"Way to interrupt me," he said jokingly. She laughed a bit.

"Sorry," she replied, moving away from him and making her way around to the wall behind him.

The two of them progressed like this until they had made it halfway around the room. "This is going nowhere," Inuyasha sighed. "There aren't going to be any bloody hollow walls."

"Sshhhh," Kagome replied, her ear against the wall opposite from the one that Inuyasha was listening to. "I might have something."

Inuyasha immediately ran over to her side of the room, pressing his ear against the wall and hitting it. There was a faint echo from the other side. He smiled widely.

"I can't believe it," he said. "You might actually have found a way out."

"Hey, I'm not stupid," Kagome replied, her hands on her hips. "You say that as if I'm good for nothing."

Inyuasha looked at her and laughed a bit. "You're not good for nothing," he said, smiling warmly. "But we need to focus on getting out of here."

"Right," Kagome said. "I'll get out of the way."

She backed away from the wall and Inuyasha prepared to break it down. He took a few steps back and then ran forwards, ramming his side into the cement.

There was a slight cracking sound, but the wall stayed solid.

He backed away from the wall again, took another running start.

The cracking sound was a bit louder this time.

He repeated this three more times, and a large crack finally appeared in the wall. He relayed this information to Kagome, who smiled.

"Just don't hurt yourself," she warned. "It's still cement."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Inuyasha replied distantly, sizing up the wall. _Just one more good hit, right...there,_ he thought to himself, seeing the place in the wall that, when hit, would cause the whole thing to crumble down. "Stand back," he said, rather unnecessarily. Kagome was already backing away.

He took one final running charge at the wall, and hit it dead on the weak spot.

There was a loud crack, followed by a slight rumbling sound.

He stepped back from the wall, looking at what he had done with a proud expression on his face.

The proud expression faded away as cracks raced along both the wall and the ceiling. He looked up, suddenly very concerned. When he finally realized what was going on, he swore loudly under his breath. Dust and small pieces of rock began to fall down from the ceiling.

"Inuyasha?" Kagome asked nervously. "Are you sure everything's alright?"

"Get under the bed!" he shouted, running towards her. He grabbed her arm and half-dragged her over to the metal bed, helping her to crawl under it before following himself. "Please don't collapse," he whispered under his breath, looking up at the ceiling that was now lacerated with cracks. "Please don't crush us."

The walls, of course, didn't listen.

The first huge chunk of rock fell down right in the middle of the room. After that, bigger and bigger chunks began to follow, accompanied by the small stones raining down everywhere. From underneath their petty shelter, Inuyasha watched everything that was going on. He didn't need to tell Kagome what was happening; the constant _thunk, thunk, crack_ of stone-hitting-stone told her all she needed to know.

"Way to totally destroy the room," she said, needing to speak loudly in order to be heard above the now-constant noise of destruction.

Once the ceiling was totally gone and they found themselves looking up at blue sky, the walls began to follow. They crumbled from the top downwards, their own weight forcing them to collapse. More and more rocks tumbled downwards. Inuyasha dared to poke his head out from under the bed for just a moment, to ensure that the wall above him and Kagome wasn't following suit.

Of course, there was no such luck.

"Kagome, we have to move," he said, taking her hand. "The wall above us is starting to collapse. We'll be crushed for sure."

Wordlessly, Kagome began to climb out from under the bed, aided by Inuyasha. One of the walls had almost totally crumbled; Inuyasha led her over to that one, moving as quickly as he could over the broken rocks that were littering the ground. More and more were falling; sometimes they just barely missed them, whizzing past their heads and taking a few hairs with them. Neither of them made any noise, too shocked to speak or to scream, as they ran together towards their only hope of escape.

"Ack!" Kagome exclaimed, losing her grip on Inuyasha's arm as her ankle fell into a hole between two rocks. Her momentum kept her moving forwards and she fell, her foot trapped between the rocks. Inuyasha swore again, running back to her.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," he said to her, not noticing that the fall had knocked her unconscious as he pulled her up and into his arms. He barely avoided getting crushed by a piece of falling rock as he carried Kagome up and over the broken-down wall.

Once they were clear of the falling rocks, he looked back at all of the destruction he had accidentally caused. There were cement blocks everywhere. The whole room had totally collapsed.

Looking around him, he realized that he had no idea where he was. He was standing in the middle of a dirty street, with broken-down buildings lining the sides. From the recently destroyed cement room, he could faintly see stairs leading down into the earth, like some kind of tunnel.

Curious as he was about what Kouga was doing, he realized that Kagome needed some help first. Looking down at her, he realized that her ankle looked badly twisted. It might have been broken. He swore, again, under his breath.

Stealing one last look at the cement wreckage he was leaving behind, memorizing its location in his mind, he began to run along the street with Kagome in his arms, looking for any clue as to where he was.


	19. Chapter 18: Deep Trouble

**Chapter 18: **_Deep Trouble_

He didn't know how long he had been walking, wandering the barren streets, looking for some kind of clue as to where he was. His only clue was the battered street signs posted at every corner; but most of them had been graffitied or damaged in some other way so that they were beyond recognition. He could only guess that he was in some suburb, and he had no idea how far away he was from Cameron Drake High School.

He looked down at Kagome. She had stirred a few times, more and more frequently now that she had had some time to recover from the shock of everything that had happened. Her ankle definitely looked broken: her foot was hanging limp from her leg, turned away at an odd angle.

She stirred once more, turning over slightly and putting a pale hand against Inuyasha's chest. He smiled. She would probably wake up soon, and that meant that he needed to find a place to put her down so she could clear her head. He looked from left to right and back again, but couldn't find anything that looked safe or clean enough to put her down in. He kept walking, keeping his eyes open.

Eventually, he saw a corner that looked relatively untrashed. He walked over to it and carefully set Kagome down on the hard concrete, keeping her head in his lap so it wouldn't break on the pavement. She moved a little bit, biting her lip as her hand reached out and felt the cold concrete on the ground. She opened her eyes, still sightless, and looked emptily up at the sky.

"Where am I?" she asked softly. "Who's there?"

Inuyasha chuckled, a deep, rumbling sound, and patted her head fondly. "It's just me," he said, smiling. Immediately the stress fell away from her face, and she looked totally relaxed.

"Oh, good, Inuyasha. Okay. Where are we?" she asked, trying to sit up. In the process, her foot moved a little bit along the ground. Her face immediately contorted with pain and she reached over to her ankle, pressing a few fingers against it. Pain immediately flared up her leg and she swore loudly. Inuyasha laughed again.

"Yeah, you broke your ankle when we were getting away from that Kouga idiot," he explained. "Quite frankly, I have no idea where we are. But you shouldn't worry too much about it. I'll figure out how to get back home and we'll go as soon as we can."

He put his hand up to his eyes to shield them from the sun as he looked around again. He could find absolutely no clue as to where the two of them were. No readable street signs...no building names...just a bunch of run-down shacks. It was almost as if they were in an entirely different world.

* * *

_It was getting easier and easier to distinguish shapes and colours. Every so often there was another blankout - the entire world went black again, just as it had been before - but they never lasted long, maybe ten minutes. Then everything would come back and she would feel the same rush of happiness she had felt before. The light brown below her, that was the dusty ground. The blue above her? Finally, she could recognize the beauty of the sky. There were large dark brown splotches everywhere - the buildings they were passing. And the large blob that was always close to her - the one that was taller than her with two yellow circles and a long white mane - that was him. Inuyasha._

_Finally, she thought to herself. It's coming back.

* * *

_

"Where on earth could they have gone?" Miroku muttered, pacing back and forth. Him and Sango were sitting in Sango's bedroom, trying to figure out their next course of action. "If Inuyasha hasn't been able to find his way back here yet, they must really be lost."

"Okay, we have to think about this," Sango muttered, putting her head on her hands and staring down at the ground. "Where is the one place where Inuyasha wouldn't be able to smell his way back?"

"Well..." Miroku began. "It would have to be pretty smelly if he couldn't follow _anything_ back."

"A place where nobody in their right minds would ever go to..." Sango added. "Probably really poor?"

"And there couldn't be anything to give away its position," Miroku muttered. "Otherwise he'd know where he was."

They fell silent as they thought about all of the possibilities. Smelly...poor...run-down...

They looked at each other as the town's name popped into their minds.

"Jicharo."

* * *

If Inuyasha's brain was working, he probably would have been able to figure out where he was, too. After all, there was only one town anywhere remotely near Cameron Drake High School that was poor, smelly, and hopelessly broken down, and that was Jicharo. If his brain was working, he would know that in order to get back to Cameron Drake, he would just need to run southwards for twenty minutes or so.

But his brain -wasn't- working. He was about as close to panicking as he would ever get. Kagome's ankle was broken, he couldn't figure out where he was, and for all he knew there was some crazy madman who wanted to kill him and he still didn't know why.

Needless to say, it was highly unlikely that he was going to figure out where he was anytime soon.

Miroku and Sango, on the other hand, were already making their way towards Jicharo. So while they moved as quickly as they could to the beaten-down town, Inuyasha and Kagome continued to struggle around, attempting to find some kind of clue that could snap Inuyasha out of his daze and lead them back to civilization.

Kagome looked up at Inuyasha, trying to recognize the expression she could vaguely see on his face. His eyebrows were furrowed and his mouth was set in a grim line as he looked far away into the horizon. She could see his long, silver hair flying lazily in the slight breeze behind him. The same wind ruffled his clothes, making slight noises that she could only detect because of years of total blindness.

She, too, looked up at the sky, the great blue expanse. What would happen to her, now that she could see? What would happen to her life? She wondered what Sango would say, what Miroku would say. What would happen when she saw her mother? What if she looked totally different?

Inuyasha looked over at Kagome, opening his mouth to say something. Slowly, his brain was beginning to piece together their location. He was about to share his findings when he saw the expression on her face: as she looked up at the sky with her long hair dancing behind her, she bore a look of such sadness that a knife seemed to go through his heart. Hopelessness, fright, desperation...everything was captured in her glassy orbs as she watched the scant clouds float by.

"What's wrong?" he asked, moving closer to her. She looked over at him, looking straight in his eyes. Inuyasha found it unnerving. "Come on, tell me."

She smiled a bit, looking down at the ground. "Nothing's wrong," she said lamely.

"Liar."

"Hey!" she said angrily, standing up on her one good ankle and glaring at him. "You're not the only one who-" She broke off mid-sentence, looking away from him again, finding something very interesting on the ground.

Inuyasha scowled. What on earth was going on in her head? "Come on, Kags," he said. "What's wrong?" He put a hand on her shoulder, tilting her head up with his other hand so he could look into her eyes. She looked back into his with a sort of clarity that he had never seen before.

"I'm just thinking," she said softly.

"About..." he prompted. There was silence between the two of them as he waited for her to answer.

"Everything," she said finally, biting her lip. "Just...I don't know. When we get back, what if my mum comes up to me and I can't recognize her? There are so many people I've never seen, or haven't seen in years. What will they think when I'm completely different?"

Inuyasha sighed, putting his hands on her shoulders and bending over a bit so his eyes were level with hers. "You're not completely different," he said, smiling. "You're just getting your sight back. Trust me, it won't change you as much as you think it will."

"How can you be so sure?" she asked, pulling away from him.

"Because they're my friends, too, and I know them better than that." He sighed. "Do you just need some time on your own or something?"

She shot him a death glare and he took a step backwards.

"Well, excu-u-use me," he said, holding his hands in the air. "You're not the only one stuck in a hellhole, you know."

She bit her lip and tried to sit down using only one of her feet to support her, but only managed to get halfway towards the ground before she lost her balance and fell the rest of the way. She closed her eyes and Inuyasha saw a few tears roll down her face.

_What did I do wrong?_ he thought to himself, walking back to Kagome and sitting down beside her.

* * *

"What do you -mean- we're only halfway there!" Sango exclaimed, running ahead of Miroku, who was carrying a small travel map in his hands.

"I mean that we're only halfway there," he replied. "Come on. If we stand here arguing about it it'll just take us longer to find them."

Sango sighed. "Okay, you win," she said. "Lead the way, map-man."

**AUTHOR'S NOTE**

**HEY GUYS!**

**Okay, okay, I know I haven't updated for ages, but you know how it is :P Anyways, I wouldn't have updated at all if it weren't for a sudden influx of reviews begging me to write another chapter, so I sat down and managed to write this. I know it's really really short, but you'll have to forgive me for not having a twenty-eight hour day :**

**Thanks for the support guys!**

**And it might take be another age and a half to write the next chapter 'cause I'm taking a happy trip to a foreign country, and I was debating whether or not to post this, but I figured a small update is better than no update.**

**So thanks for all the reviews! You guys are awesome. **


	20. Chapter 19: Hope?

**Author's Note: Whoa, so it's been like 5 months since my last update, right? I'm sure a lot of you thought I had just totally forgotten about this fic.**

**Well, I came back from my excursion to a foreign country and it took a bit longer than I had planned, and then I needed to get settled back into my home, and then there was school, and I hope you guys can all understand how I wasn't able to get a lot of writing done. **

**But now I'm back, and you've got another chapter.**

**This story is actually almost over! Ending in sight! Whoa!**

**Chapter 19: **_Hope...?_

"And how much longer are we going to have to walk until we get there?" Sango asked, frustration obvious in her voice.

"Maybe...forty-five minutes," Miroku replied. "And five minutes ago, when you asked that, it was fifty minutes. Five minutes from now, when you ask again..."

"I get the idea," Sango muttered, shoving her hands in her pockets and walking even faster than she had been before. Miroku struggled to keep up.

"You know, we should probably-"

"Find them?" Sango interrupted. "Yes, that's a good idea."

Miroku cast her a forlorn glance, then looked down at the little travel map he was carrying in his hands. He was worried, too, although he did a rather better job of hiding it. He wanted to get to Jicharo as much as Sango did, but he was a little more wary about the town itself. It was about as nasty a place as you could find in the whole region, and it wasn't too small, either. He wasn't exactly comfortable with the idea of him and Sango running around the place looking for Inuyasha and Kagome. How long would it take to find them? What if they were hurt? What if they had already left, and this whole thing was just a wild goose chase?

He sighed, looking over at Sango. If he voiced all of his doubts, she would probably just get mad at him - or worse, believe him and lose hope. He wouldn't let that happen.

Determined to keep his mouth shut, he continued trudging forwards, struggling to keep up with Sango as she marched confidently onwards.

* * *

Half an hour had passed and neither Inuyasha nor Kagome had moved from where they were sitting, resting their backs against the brick wall behind them. Kagome had been silent the entire time, a million questions whirling through her brain, with no hope of finding answers anytime soon. Her sight had managed to progress quite a bit in the short time she had been sitting there; already, things were getting sharper edges, it was easier to focus on distant objects. When she looked at Inuyasha, sitting so close to her, she could almost see the individual strands of bizarrely-coloured hair that grew from his scalp.

One would think that such progress would make her feel better, but really, it didn't. It just brought more and more questions into her mind. She had memorized everything she could about the environment she was in now; the grungy brick walls, the shadowy figures moving about the shadows, everything covered in thick layers of grime. Nothing she saw was reassuring her.

And what would happen when she got back to Cameron Drake High School? Would she still be able to find her way among the hallways? It might be easier to navigate if she just shut her eyes and continued as if nothing had happened, but she knew that was a stupid idea. She would need to relearn how to move, how to live.

She sighed. It was daunting. Sometimes she wished her sight had never started coming back at all.

The moment after that thought had crossed her mind, she brought a hand up to her forehead and hit herself. Hard. Inuyasha stared at her, concern crossing his face, but she didn't even notice.

What was she doing, wishing her sight had never come back? Sure, it would take some getting used to, but life like this would eventually be a million times easier than life blind. Imagine, meeting people for the first time and not having to explain that you couldn't see them. Imagine, being able to see her home, her family. Being able to see Inuyasha...

And for the first time in a long time, she felt happy. She looked over at Inuyasha, who was still watching her with that look of concern. She looked at his golden eyes, at his perfect hair, each strand blowing in the wind - she could see them now, with eyes that were surprisingly clear. Almost without thinking, she reached forwards and ran a hand through his hair. He raised an eyebrow.

"Feeling better, then?" he asked. Kagome felt like laughing.

"Yeah," she said. "Yeah, I do."

Inuyasha nodded, looking off into the distance. "Good," he said, "because we've got visitors."

* * *

"_Now_ how much longer?" Sango demanded."

"Seven minutes," Miroku replied, not even bothering to check his watch. She had asked just one minute ago.

"That's what you said last time."

"No, last time I said eight minutes."

"Can't we walk any faster?"

"...you can try."

* * *

Inuyasha's eyes narrowed as he watched the two figures pause in the shadows, looking towards him and Kagome. He couldn't see them very well, but from what he could tell, they were two young men in baggy hoodies, conversing in low, whispered voices and occasionally motioning towards him and Kagome. Inuyasha tensed; he didn't want to know what they were thinking, looking at Kagome like that. If anybody tried to hurt her...

He clenched his fists. "Well, what do you want?" he shouted at them. The two figures froze, looking at him with shock, then put their heads together and whispered a little bit more. A few seconds later they stepped out of the shadows, approaching Inuyasha and Kagome with menacing grins on their faces.

"Yeah, it's you two," one of them said. "Should we just get him and bring him back for the boss?"

"No, I think he said something about the girl, too," the second replied. "We should just take them both."

Inuyasha clenched his hands into fists and glared at the two of them. "For your own safety, I would suggest leaving," he said, putting ice thick into his voice. "Now."

The two men just laughed, approaching him, cracking their knuckles. "The girl looks hurt," the second one commented. "Hows about we just take him out and lift her away?"

"She probably couldn't fight anyways," the first replied. "Sounds like a plan."

Kagome bristled, watching the two of them approach, but didn't say anything. She wanted to; she wanted to throw everything back in their faces, but she knew it wouldn't do any good. Better to just let Inuyasha take care of them and stay still, so her ankle didn't get any more hurt than it already was.

The two men launched themselves on Inuyasha, who immediately occupied himself with kicking their sorry behinds. The fight was no challenge at all; the pair of 'fighters' moved slowly, clumsily, leaving many holes open so Inuyasha could take them out easy. A punch here, a kick there, and Inuyasha could tell they were already preparing themselves to run off. He grinned.

A shrill scream from behind him wiped the grin off his face. While he had been busy a third man had managed to sneak up on Kagome. He had lifted her up and slung her over his shoulder, not paying any attention to her injured ankle. Pain had immediately seared up her leg.

"Inuyasha!" she screamed. The boy immediately whirled around, his eyes wide - and the two men took that moment to hit him hard from behind. He fell to the ground, then picked himself back up again, turning to the two men with his teeth bared.

"Damn tricksters!" he shouted, immediately unleashing all his wrath on them, fists flying in all directions, coming into perfect contact every time. Fifteen seconds later they were on the ground.

"Kagome!" Inuyasha shouted. The man holding her over his shoulder had started to run away, and Inuyasha immediately took off behind him. "Kagome!"

* * *

"Kagome!"

"Did you hear that?" Sango asked, freezing. Miroku looked off to the left. They had entered Jicharo a minute ago, the general atmosphere unnerving them. Everywhere they looked, they saw grime, shadows, just general nastiness.

"That sounded an awful lot like Inuyasha," he said, immediately running off in the direction of the sound. "Inuyasha!" he shouted. "Inuyasha!"

* * *

"...Miroku?" Inuyasha asked the air, pausing. A fraction of a second later, the shock had lifted, and he was taking off again to rescue Kagome. "Miroku, over here!" he shouted while running. The man in front of him was impossibly fast, he didn't know whether he'd be able to...

Miroku suddenly appeared in front of him, ramming right into the side of the man carrying Kagome. The man, caught off his guard, fell down to the ground, taking Kagome with him. She took the opportunity to scramble quickly away, trying as hard as she could to keep her injured ankle off the ground. Inuyasha caught up to her quickly and lifted her off the ground. She leaned gratefully against him, smiling as she saw another figure running up to them.

"...Sango?" she asked quietly. Inuyasha nodded his confirmation as the furious-looking girl appeared, immediately running up to the man on the ground and kicking him as hard as she could.

"Jerk!" she shouted. "Little worthless piece of-"

"Come on, Sango, stop that," Miroku said, putting an arm around her shoulders. "Bad names never hurt anyone. You've got to do the sticks and stones thing." He, too, kicked the man, then turned to Inuyasha. He was grinning.

"Finally," Miroku said. "I'm so glad I found you. If only to make Sango shut up."

The girl cast a glare in his direction and made as of to slap him, but Miroku managed to duck, laughing the entire time.

"Can we just...find a hospital or something?" Inuyasha said. "Kagome needs someone to look at her ankle."

Kagome nodded her agreement, a sudden wave of fatigue washing over her. She could see Sango smiling down at her, Miroku laughing in the background. They were both exactly as she had pictured them.

Maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all.

**Author's Note: I'm sorry it's short, but I'm being kicked off the computer in five minutes, so I figure I'd just leave it off here and give you all the update you've been so kindly and patiently waiting for.**

**Only a few more chapters left!**


	21. Chapter 20: Winding Down

**Author's Note: This is the LAST CHAPTER, guys! I know I said last time that there would be a few left, but I really think it would work better if I just skipped ahead to when Kagome is already in the hospital, otherwise I'd definitely bore you all with the "I'm so lost." "Where's the map?" "Haven't we been here before?" scene. So after this, there's going to be an epilogue, and then this whole thing will be over!**

**Anyways, here's the story, I'll talk more at the bottom of the page.**

**Chapter 20: **_Winding Down_

"You need to get some rest."

"I'll stay here."

"Then we'll stay with you."

"No, you need to get some rest."

"And so do you!"

"I'll be fine."

"Fine. But if anything happens, call us."

"Okay."

The dim voices reached Kagome's ears like echoes of some other universe, a distant world calling to her. They became clearer and clearer, and she realized she was lying down, on something soft. A mattress. There were sheets. She was in a bed.

She moved a little bit. The voices...they had been male.

_Inuyasha_, she thought. Yes, it had been him, wanting to stay. And the other...Miroku.

She opened her eyes slowly, blinking away the bright lights that immediately accosted her brain. White...so much white. The walls were white, the bed was white, the annoyingly electric light above her was white. And his hair was white as it brushed over her, with a flash of gold as Inuyasha leaned over her, looking down worriedly.

"Kagome?" he asked tentatively. She smiled.

"Inuyasha," she answered, and immediately he wrapped his arms around her, lifting her up and off the bed with his strength. She laughed, patting him on the back.

"Oh, come on, you big softie," she said. "I only broke my ankle."

"Yeah, in seven million places," he shot back, letting go of her in the name of his ego. "I'm not a softie."

"Are too," Kagome replied tiredly, sitting back against the pillows. The hospital people must have put her under or something. The tiredness still hadn't worn off entirely.

"Am not."

"Are too."

"Am-"

Inuyasha's voice was cut off as Kagome reached up and placed a finger over his lips. He blinked, shocked, then smiled.

"Fine," he said. "But you love me, right?"

Kagome couldn't help but laugh at that, and in lieu of a reply, brought Inuyasha's head down to hers and kissed him.

The hospital attendant walked in at that point. She was a middle-aged female with long blonde hair tied back in a ponytail, and watched them for a few moments, then cleared her throat. "Sorry to interrupt," she said. "We just wanted to let you know that Kagome Higurashi will be able to go home today, assuming that one of her parents or legal guardians arrives to pick her up." She raised an eyebrow. "Would you like to call your parents now, or would you prefer to be left alone for a few moments?"

Kagome smiled. "I'll call them now, thanks."

The attendant nodded, then left for a few seconds, coming back quickly with a phone in her hand. Kagome took it and looked down at the number keys, pausing. She hadn't seen the number pad of a phone in years. Running a tentative finger over it, she smiled. Even though she could see it, nothing had changed.

She dialed her number by memory, watching her fingers move so she could re-remember the numbers. She had forgotten them long ago, only remembering the places her fingers had to go. One after the other, the numbers came back, bringing memories back with them. Memories of older times, before her accident...but memories of better times? No. She looked at Inuyasha, who looked back at her, fondness shining in his yellow orbs.

And it was then that she knew. She had no regrets. Did she wish she had been able to see, for all those years? No. Her blindness was something she wouldn't trade for anything else in the world.

She pressed the phone to her ear now, hearing the customary ringing on the other end of the line. A click. Her mother's voice saying, "Hello?"

"Hi, mom?"

"Kagome! Kagome, oh, you're all right! Oh, I was just on my way to the hospital...are you okay? How do you feel? Hold on, I'll come over there to get you right away, how are you? Who's with you? Are you all alone? Is that-"

"Mom, slow down," Kagome said into the mouthpiece, running a hand through her hair, grinning. Her mother was crazy. "I'm fine. The hospital people say you can pick me up and take me home. Really, I'm fine, and Inuyasha is here with me."

"Oh, okay." She could practically feel her mother relaxing on the other end of the phone cable. "Okay. I'll be there in ten minutes."

"Okay. See you soon, mom." Click. Kagome held out the phone and the hospital attendant took it, then left. Inuyasha turned back to Kagome.

"So, where were we?"

* * *

Kagome stared out the car window for the entire ride, watching the trees and houses flash by, the other cars, everything. She couldn't get over how much cars had changed in the years she hadn't been able to see them. They were so much sleeker now, so much cooler. Inuyasha would randomly point at something and shout out "NAME THAT RANDOM OBJECT!" just to make sure that Kagome hadn't forgotten what a lamppost or stop sign looked like. Her mother did nothing but laugh and smile for the entire trip, obviously extremely happy that her little baby was coming home, safe, sound, and with her sight.

Kagome had offered to call Sango and Miroku, but Inuyasha decided that it would be easier for her to see them the next day at school. He had insisted on letting her rest, get her strength up, and everything, but Kagome saw through all that; the big softie that he was, he just wanted to stay with her, alone. Her mother saw it too, and managed to resist her instinctive want to stay with Kagome, and let the two of them be.

Inuyasha sat across from Kagome, holding her hands for support as she looked wide-eyed around her, as if seeing the room for the first time. After a minute or so of that, she turned back to Inuyasha, who smiled warmly at her.

"So," he began, "what do you think?"

"I...I don't know," she admitted, her voice whispery, awed. "It's not like how I pictured it."

"No?" Inuyasha repeated, shocked. "How did you picture it?"

"I'm not...I'm not sure," she replied. "I think I forgot solid colours, shapes, lines. In my mind it was all so much more abstract, you know? Like not just the looks of things, but also the sounds and the feels..." She trailed off, noticing that Inuyasha was looking at her confusedly. "And I'm not making any sense to you."

"No, not really," Inuyasha agreed. "But are you okay? Like...not too freaked out?"

Kagome looked around her, her expression brightening, then softening. She seemed to glow with a level of comfort that Inuyasha had never seen in her before.

"Yeah," she said. "Yeah, I'm okay."

And it felt like the first time she could honestly say it.

* * *

"Kagome! Oh my gosh, Kagome!"

Sango ran towards her friend and wrapped her in a huge hug, pulling her tight as if she might run away again. "Kagome, we were so freaking worried," she continued, pulling away from her and holding her shoulders tightly, as if she wanted to shake her, but resisted on account of her hurt ankle. Kagome was walking around in a cast and crutches, but that didn't stop her from looking like the happiest girl on earth.

"Ah, my lovely Sango," Miroku began, walking up next to his girlfriend and wrapping an arm delicately around her shoulders. "Leave the poor hurt child alone." Sango scowled at him and then let Kagome go. A grin spreading over his face, Miroku immediately wrapped Kagome in his own hug.

"Oh my GOSH! We were LIKE TOTALLY worried!" he exclaimed, pulling away from Kagome and flapping a hand in front of him for good measure. "Look at me, I'm SANGO! Oh my GOSH! Kags! Are you all right? Kaaags?"

Sango slapped him. Hard. The familiar red handprint immediately sprung to life on his face. He grinned at Kagome all the same.

"It's good to have you back," he said, composing himself.

"The first thing to come out of your mouth today that makes sense," Sango muttered, rubbing her hand. Apparently she had slapped him so hard it had hurt her palm, too.

Inuyasha grinned. Yeah, it was good to have everyone back.

"So wait, tell us everything that happened with that jerk that kidnapped you," Miroku insisted. "Where did he take you? How did you get out?"

Kagome and Inuyasha looked at each other, smiling. "Well, it all began like this..." Kagome said, and proceeded to describe their entire adventure.

* * *

The next day, Kagome had been sitting in math class when Kaede called her down to her office. Her and Inuyasha had exchanged glances before she had gotten up and walked out of the room, crossing the now-familiar hallway with ease that she hadn't expected from herself in many years. As she approached the door, she paused to appreciate the beauty of the large oak wood door, and then let herself in. The secretary smiled at her and then waved to Kaede's door, giving Kagome permission to walk in.

Upon entering, memories attacked her - here, she had met Inuyasha for the first time. She scanned the room briefly - Kaede watching her, amused, from behind her wooden desk, two chairs in front of her, a few shelves of books behind. She must have been sitting in one of those chairs; the one on the right, she figured. And Inuyasha must have been in the other one.

"I can still remember the first time I saw you," Kaede said, bringing Kagome's gaze back up to her. "My dear, you haven't changed a bit." Kagome smiled, and Kaede smiled back, warm lines indicating her age on her face.

"I have a proposition for you," Kaede said. "It won't be for a very long time, so you have a while to think about it."

"Okay," Kagome agreed. "What is it?"

"I thought that perhaps, with your unique experiences, you might be interested in speaking at some public gatherings that will be occurring in five years or so," Kaede explained. "I know a group of people that are preparing a school for the blind, a project that they want to begin in seven years, but they are looking for possible teachers and people to gather interest." Kaede looked Kagome sternly in the eyes. "It won't be for five years. You will be a grown woman then, with your own life, and possibly another career. I just want to let you know that it's happening. I'm sure that, if you are interested in teaching, that school would offer another wonderful experience for you."

Kagome nodded, smiling as she thought about it. She would be able to offer help to other people that were going through the same things she had. She could share the things she had learned, and possibly spare some of them the pain she had gone through.

"I'll think about it," she said, standing up.

"That's all I ask," Kaede replied, looking at Kagome with warmth in her aged eyes. "You can go back to class now, Ms. Higurashi."

Kagome nodded and began to walk out, but paused just before reaching the door. "And Kaede," she began, "thank you. For everything."

The old woman smiled and nodded her head. "I'll still be here if you need anything."

Kagome smiled and waved, before leaving the old woman's office. She knew, even then, that she wouldn't need to go back. She had everything she needed, and more. And she knew now, with everything she had learned, that she could find it all in herself.

**Author's Note: Wow, guys. It's over.**

**I never thought it would get this far. I still remember posting my first chapters. I only had it planned up to chapter 5 or 6...this was my first Inuyasha fanfiction, my first love story, even. The support that you've all given me has been absolutely fantastic. I'd love to give out a special tribute to each and every one of you, but there's not nearly enough space here for that, so I'll just give you all cookies instead.**

**Anyways, I'd just like to say thank you to all of you. For staying with this story, and putting up with my long absences, and all that. You guys have been amazing, and I'm glad that my story could bring you all so much delight.**

**I'm going to put up an epilogue, but for now, this is it.**

**Again, you guys are awesome. Who knows, maybe I'll write another fanfiction someday, but for now...thanks for all this.**

**See ya later!**


	22. Epilogue

EPILOGUE

A woman in her early twenties walked into the auditorium, her long brown hair trailing behind her as she walked. Her large, expressive eyes looked over the crowd in front of her, smiling at the sight. She was wearing casual but classy clothes, a simple necklace around her neck and a golden ring on the fourth finger of her left hand.

But nobody in the crowd would have been able to see all that. The woman cleared her throat and all the blind faces turned up to her, listening intently for her next words.

"Hi, I'm Kagome Higurashi," she said, her voice confident and well-projected, "and I will be your new teacher this year."

She paused, sweeping another glance over the crowd in front of her. There were maybe five hundred people sitting in front of her, all between ten and twenty years old, it looked like. She smiled to herself and absently twisted the band she always wore, her thoughts drifting to Inuyasha for a few moments before she returned to her present situation.

"I was blind, like all of you, for quite a few years of my life," she began. "I won't get into my own story because it's the same one you all are living right now, but I will tell you that I'm excited to be here." She flashed a large smile at all of them, ignoring the fact that they wouldn't be able to see it. "I hope to become not only a teacher, but a guide and friend to all of you."

Applause radiated towards her and a voice said over the noise, "Are there any questions for Mrs. Higurashi?"

One of the children, an older girl, raised her hand. In her hand she held a number. Kagome noticed that all the children held slates with numbers; they were probably unique to each of the students to help early teachers that didn't yet know all their names. "Yes, number 15," she called out. The girl put down her sign.

"In your opinion, is blindness a handicap?" she asked, her gaze uncannily accurate as she watched Kagome, who smiled.

"What's your name?" she asked.

"Kim," was the reply.

"Then, no, Kim," Kagome answered. "It is not at all a handicap. Blindness is a gift that teaches us to see further than most people can."

Kimberly smiled and more applause rang through the auditorium. Everyone was certain that this new teacher, this Mrs. Higurashi, would be wonderful.

**Author's Note: And there you have it. I hope you guys are happy  
**

**Anyone want to continue this story? Let me know in a review/email. Hugs and cookies for everyone!   
**


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